The Story of Tulsi Vivah — Vrinda, Jalandhar and the Shaligram

Where the story comes from

The katha recited at every Tulsi Vivah is not found, as a single story, in any one scripture. It joins two Puranic episodes. The first is the story of Vrinda and Jalandhar, told at length in the Shiva Purana (Rudra Samhita, Yuddha Khanda, chapters 14 to 26). The second is the story of Tulasi and the asura Shankhachuda, told in the same Shiva Purana (chapter 41) and in the Devi Bhagavata Purana (book 9, chapter 24), and also in the Brahmavaivarta Purana's Prakriti Khanda. It is in the second episode that the Lord is cursed to become stone. The retelling below follows the Shiva Purana for Vrinda and the Devi Bhagavata for the curse, and the last sections explain how the popular katha joins them.

Jalandhar, the son of the ocean

The Shiva Purana begins with Indra. He and Brihaspati went to Kailash, and on the way a naked ascetic with matted hair blocked their path. Indra, proud of his rule, did not recognise Shiva and raised his thunderbolt. Shiva's anger blazed from his third eye; Brihaspati fell at his feet and begged him to spare Indra, and Shiva threw that fire into the sea, where the Ganga meets the ocean.

The fire became a baby boy whose crying shook the three worlds. When Brahma came to see him, the child seized him by the neck and shook him until tears ran from his eyes. Because the boy had drawn water from the creator's eyes, Brahma named him Jalandhar. Brahma foretold that the boy would become emperor of the asuras, would defeat even Vishnu, and could be killed by no one but Shiva. The ocean raised him as his son and married him to Vrinda, daughter of the asura Kalanemi, a woman the Purana praises for her devotion and good conduct.

Jalandhar conquered heaven and took the gods' treasures. Vishnu came to fight him and could not win. Pleased with his courage, Vishnu offered him a boon, and Jalandhar asked him to live in his house with his sister Lakshmi, who was born of the ocean like him. Vishnu had to agree. The Purana says that Jalandhar then ruled the three worlds justly, and that no one in his kingdom was poor or sick.

The war with Shiva

Narada told Jalandhar that the most beautiful woman in creation was Parvati. Jalandhar sent a messenger to Shiva to demand her, and war broke out. In the middle of the battle he used his maya to take Shiva's form and went to Parvati. She recognised the impostor and vanished. Then she called Vishnu and gave him an instruction. Jalandhar, she said, had shown the way himself; he could not be killed while his wife's chastity protected him, so Vishnu should break it in the same way.

How Vrinda was deceived

That night Vrinda had terrible dreams. She saw her husband naked, smeared with oil, riding a buffalo towards the south, and the whole city sinking into the sea. In the morning, frightened, she wandered into the forest, where two fierce demons chased her. She ran to an ascetic sitting in silence with a disciple, and he drove the demons away with a single "Hum". She asked him how her husband was faring in the war. At a sign from the ascetic, two monkeys flew off and came back carrying Jalandhar's head and body. Vrinda fainted, and when she came to, she begged the sage to bring her husband back to life.

The sage, who was Vishnu in disguise, "revived" Jalandhar and disappeared. Vrinda, overjoyed, spent days with her husband in the forest, until she realised that the man beside her was Vishnu. With her chastity broken, her husband lost his protection, and in the battle Shiva cut off Jalandhar's head with a discus he had drawn in the water with his toe.

Vrinda's curse and her end

In the Shiva Purana, Vrinda's curse is not about stone. She tells Vishnu that the two "demons" he showed her will be born as rakshasas and carry off his wife; that he will wander the forest in grief for her with Shesha, who posed as his disciple, at his side; and that he will need the help of monkeys. The translator notes that this is the curse fulfilled in the Ramayana, with Ravana and Maricha, Lakshmana, and Hanuman and Sugriva. Then Vrinda entered the fire, although Vishnu tried to stop her. Her light went to Shivaloka and merged in Parvati.

Vishnu sat by her pyre, covered in its ashes, and would not be consoled. On Shiva's advice the gods prayed to the Devi, and three goddesses — Gauri, Lakshmi and Saraswati — gave them seeds to sow where the pyre had burned. Three plants grew: the amla (dhatri), the malati jasmine and the tulsi. Seeing them, Vishnu forgot his grief and returned to Vaikuntha. The Purana closes the episode by saying that amla and tulsi are especially dear to Vishnu in the month of Kartik.

Tulasi and the stone: the Shaligram

The curse of stone comes from the second story. In the Devi Bhagavata, Tulasi is a woman who did long penance wishing for Narayana as her husband, and was married first to the asura king Shankhachuda, who could not be defeated while he wore a divine armour and while his wife's chastity stood. To end him, Vishnu took his armour and went to Tulasi in her husband's form. She discovered the deception and said: you have no mercy, your heart is like a stone, so become a stone.

Narayana accepted the curse and answered her. Her penance for him, he said, was now bearing fruit. Her body would become the sacred river Gandaki; her hair would become the tulsi plant, chief of all leaves and flowers used in worship; and he himself would live as stone on the Gandaki's banks, where insects would carve the spiral marks that make each stone a Shaligram. The Shiva Purana tells the same exchange, with Shiva himself appearing to console Tulasi and give these blessings. In both texts, from then on, Tulasi and the Shaligram belong together.

How the popular katha tells it

The katha read at home on Dev Uthani Ekadashi joins the two stories into one. In it, Vrinda is the wife of Jalandhar, and it is she who curses Vishnu to become a heartless stone. The gods plead with her, she releases him, and she gives up her life; a tulsi plant grows from her ashes. Moved, Vishnu declares that as tulsi she will always be with him, that no offering to him is complete without her, and that whoever marries his Shaligram form to tulsi in Kartik will gain great merit. That promise is the reason for Tulsi Vivah.

This form is how most families know the story, and it is a fair summary of what the Puranas mean. But the details belong to different texts, and it helps to know which.

Where the versions differ

• Vrinda's curse. Shiva Purana: separation from his wife and the need of monkeys' help, fulfilled as Rama. Popular katha: Vishnu becomes stone. The stone curse belongs, in the Puranas, to Tulasi, the wife of Shankhachuda.
• Where tulsi comes from. Shiva Purana: from seeds given by the three goddesses, sown on Vrinda's pyre. Devi Bhagavata: from Tulasi's hair. Popular katha: from Vrinda's ashes.
• Are Vrinda and Tulasi the same? The texts treat them as two stories, but devotional tradition identifies them. Vrinda is one of tulsi's eight traditional names, and the Tulsi Chalisa tells them as births of the same soul.
• Who asked for the deception. Shiva Purana: Parvati instructs Vishnu. Devi Bhagavata: Vishnu acts "for the gods' purpose" during Shiva's war with Shankhachuda.

Every version keeps the same core: a woman of great virtue wronged by the Lord himself for the sake of the world, a Lord who accepts her curse instead of brushing it aside, and her lasting place beside him.

What the story means

• Virtue is a real power. In every telling, Vrinda's devotion protects her husband against gods. The story takes a wife's steadfastness seriously, not as a sentimental virtue.
• Even God accepts the consequence. Vishnu does not undo the curse he earned. The Shaligram, worshipped in countless homes, is in a sense a reminder of a debt.
• The wronged one is honoured above all. The plant that grew from Vrinda's sorrow is the one leaf without which Vishnu accepts no offering.

Many readers find the story uncomfortable, and that discomfort is old: in the Shiva Purana, Vrinda herself cries "Fie on this misdeed of Vishnu", and in the Devi Bhagavata Tulasi asks how the Lord could kill one devotee for the sake of others. The texts let the question stand; the answer they give is the honour she receives, not a denial that she was wronged.

Tulsi Vivah: when and how the story is remembered

Tulsi Vivah is celebrated on Prabodhini (Dev Uthani) Ekadashi or the Dwadashi after it, in the bright half of Kartik, the day Bhagwan Vishnu is believed to wake from his four-month sleep. In many regions it can be held on any day up to Kartik Purnima. A Shaligram, or an image of Vishnu or Krishna, is married to the tulsi plant with a full wedding: a sugarcane mandap, red chunri and shringar for the bride, kanyadaan and seven rounds. With this wedding the season of human weddings opens again.

For the 2026 date, parana timings and a step-by-step home vidhi, see our guide to Dev Uthani Ekadashi 2026 and Tulsi Vivah vidhi. The aarti Tulsi Maharani Namo Namo and the Tulsi Stotram are sung after the wedding.

In the city of Jalandhar in Punjab, local tradition holds that the city is named after the asura king, and a temple of Sati Vrinda Devi is worshipped there.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Tulsi married to the Shaligram?

Because, in the Puranic story, Vishnu became the Shaligram stone through the curse of the woman he had deceived, and promised that she, as tulsi, would always be united with him. The yearly wedding celebrates that promise.

Which Purana has the story of Vrinda and Jalandhar?

The Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Yuddha Khanda, chapters 14 to 26, tells it in full. The Linga Purana also has a chapter on Jalandhar's death, and other Puranas tell versions of his story.

Did Vrinda curse Vishnu to become a stone?

In the popular katha, yes. In the Shiva Purana, Vrinda's curse is that he will lose his wife and need the help of monkeys — fulfilled as the Ramayana. The curse of stone is spoken by Tulasi, the wife of Shankhachuda, in the Shiva Purana (chapter 41) and the Devi Bhagavata (9.24).

Are Vrinda and Tulsi the same person?

Devotional tradition treats them as one: Vrinda is among tulsi's eight names, and Vrindavan is "the forest of Vrinda". The Puranas tell two separate stories, which the vrat katha joins.

Where do Shaligram stones come from?

From the Gandaki river in Nepal. The Devi Bhagavata says Tulasi's body became the Gandaki and the Lord lives on its banks as stone, its spirals carved by tiny creatures.

Can Tulsi Vivah be done without a Shaligram?

Yes. Many families use a small image or picture of Vishnu or Krishna as the groom. What matters is that the tulsi is married to the Lord.

Why are tulsi leaves not offered to Ganesh?

Separate stories give separate reasons, but the Shiva Purana itself, in this very episode, says tulsi pleases every deity except Ganesh. That is the source most often cited for the custom.