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News India Live, Digital Desk: Tulsi Vivah 2025: Every year, the day of Ekadashi of Shukla Paksha of Kartik month is very special. It is called ‘Devuthani Ekadashi’, i.e. the day when Lord Vishnu wakes up from his long sleep of four months. On this auspicious day, the beautiful tradition of ‘Tulsi Vivah’ is also performed, in which Tulsi ji is married in every house with the Shaligram form (a special stone) of Lord Vishnu.
But have you ever wondered why Lord Vishnu, whom we consider the protector of the universe, had to take the form of a stone? There is a mythological story behind this which has a wonderful description of love, faithfulness, deceit and the power of a woman’s curse.
Who was Vrinda, whose chastity made the gods tremble?
According to mythology, there was a very powerful demon named Jalandhar, who could not be defeated by anyone. The secret of his power was his wife ‘Vrinda’. Vrinda was a very devoted woman and was also an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. The power of his Pativrata Dharma was so great that it created a protective shield for Jalandhar, which no god could penetrate.
Jalandhar, intoxicated with his power, started committing atrocities in all the three worlds. He also captured heaven by defeating the gods. When all the gods were defeated, they turned to Lord Vishnu for help.
When Vishnu cheated Vrinda to break her devotion to husband
Lord Vishnu knew that as long as Vrinda remained faithful to his wife, it was impossible to kill Jalandhar. So, to protect the gods he made a plan. When Jalandhar was fighting with the gods, Lord Vishnu took the form of Jalandhar and went straight to Vrinda’s palace.
When Vrinda saw her husband in front of her, she could not understand anything and considered him as her husband and behaved like a wife with him. As soon as Vrinda’s vow to marry was broken, on the other hand the gods killed Jalandhar in the battlefield. When Jalandhar’s severed head landed in Vrinda’s palace, it did not take long for him to understand that he had been cheated a lot.
Vrinda’s curse which turned Lord Vishnu into stone
When Vrinda saw Lord Vishnu in the guise of her husband in front of her, she was heartbroken and filled with anger. She cried and said, “O Narayana! You are the protector of the world, why did you betray me like this? You violated my chastity to kill my husband. You have done this with a heart as hard as a stone, hence I curse you that you too will become a stone.”
The effect of this curse that came from the mouth of a devoted woman was so strong that Lord Vishnu turned into a stone at that very moment. The form of this stone is called ‘Shaligram’.
How did you get freedom from the curse and the blessing of Tulsi marriage?
Lord Vishnu’s transformation into stone created imbalance in the entire universe. All the gods and Goddess Lakshmi prayed to Vrinda to take back her curse. Vrinda took back her curse, but Lord Vishnu respected her patriotism and said that her Shaligram form would always be worshipped.
After this Vrinda committed sati with the dead body of her husband Jalandhar. At the place where his funeral pyre was burnt, a plant grew from the ashes. Lord Vishnu named that plant ‘Tulsi’ and gave the boon that, “Vrinda, you will always remain with me in the form of Tulsi. You will be married to my Shaligram form and any of my worship will be considered incomplete without you.”
Since then, the tradition of organizing the marriage of Tulsi and Shaligram every year on the day of Devuthani Ekadashi started, which tells the story of the unbreakable relationship between a devotee and God.