Tulsi Vivah (Tulsi Kalyanam) 2104

From the Skanda Purana

The sage Narada told this story to King Prithu, who had asked why the Tulasi plant is so great.

Once Lord Shiva cast the fire of his anger far away into the sea, where the river Sindhu meets the ocean. There it became a baby boy, crying loudly. The Ocean took him as his own son. When Brahma came to bless the child, the boy pulled at Brahma's beard until tears ran from his eyes, and because the child "held the water" Brahma named him Jalandhara. He grew into a mighty king of the asuras and married Vrinda, the daughter of the asura chief Kalanemi.

Vrinda was a wife of perfect faithfulness, and that faithfulness guarded her husband. Proud of his power, Jalandhara made war on the gods and even on Shiva. He took on Shiva's own form and went to Goddess Parvati, but she saw through the trick and vanished. Then she asked Lord Vishnu for help. Vishnu said that Jalandhara was protected by his wife's faithfulness, and could not be killed while it stood. So Vishnu went to Jalandhara's city.

Vrinda had a terrible dream about her husband and woke in fear. Wandering through the forest, she was chased by two frightening demons and ran to a silent ascetic for shelter. With one sound he drove the demons away. When she asked about her husband, two monkeys brought in Jalandhara's head and body, killed in the battle. Vrinda fainted with grief and begged the ascetic to bring him back. He vanished, and Jalandhara seemed to stand before her alive. Full of joy, Vrinda lived with him as her husband. But one day she saw that the one beside her was Vishnu himself, who had taken her husband's form.

Heartbroken, Vrinda cursed him: "You have deceived me in the guise of an ascetic. Your own wife will be carried away, and you will wander in the forest in sorrow, with the lord of serpents as your companion." (The Purana links this to Rama's later search for Sita.) Then Vrinda entered the fire, though Vishnu tried to stop her. With her faithfulness broken, Shiva slew Jalandhara in battle, and Vrinda's light merged into Goddess Gauri.

Vishnu could not forget Vrinda. He stood among her ashes, and no one could comfort him. The gods prayed to the great Goddess, and she told them to go to her three forms, Gauri, Lakshmi and Svara. The three goddesses gave the gods seeds and said, "Sow these where Vishnu is." From those seeds grew three plants: Dhatri (the amla tree), Malati (jasmine) and Tulasi. Seeing them as lovely maidens, Vishnu forgot his sorrow. Tulasi and Dhatri loved him truly, and he took them with him to Vaikuntha.

That is why, the Purana says, Tulasi is so dear to Vishnu that at the close of the Kartika vow he is worshipped at the root of the Tulasi plant. Yama's servants do not enter a house where Tulasi grows, and hearing this story removes sin.

Another story

This is the katha traditionally told by families who keep Tulsi Vivah; the sources that tell it do not name a scripture. In this telling, when Vrinda learned that Vishnu had deceived her, she cursed him to become a lifeless stone. Vishnu became the Shalagrama stone. Vrinda gave up her body, and where her ashes fell, the Tulasi plant grew. Vishnu blessed her that she would always stay close to him as Tulasi, and that he, in his Shalagrama form, would marry her. So every year in Kartika, after Prabodhini Ekadashi, families celebrate the wedding of Tulasi and the Shalagrama.