Legend of Jalandhar and Brinda. Origin of Tulsi and Shalgram Shila.

 

            According to the story narrated in 'Shiva Purana' and 'Devi Bhagavata Purana', once "Devaraja was coming to Mount Kailash for the purpose of meeting Indra Mahadev". At this time Mahadev lay down on the way to Kailasa in the form of 'Aghori' to test Indra's patience. Indra did not recognize Shiva as 'Aghori' and ordered him to move away from the path, but Aghori did not move at all. Even after repeatedly saying that Aghori did not move then Indra wanted to remove him by force. But all the weapons of Indra failed in front of him, which made Indra angry and hit Shiva on the head with lightning. When Mahadev became angry and tried to burn him with the third eye, Indra recognized him and turned to Shiva. In this Mahadev forgave Indra and threw his fury 'into the sea'.

           When Shiva's fury goes to the sea and meets, a child is born from him. 'Daityaguru Shukracharya' took the responsibility of raising this child. Since the water was holding him, his name is 'Jalandhar'.

             Being a part of Jalandhar Mahadev, he had all the qualities like him, looking at him, it seemed as if the meeting Mahadev was standing in front of him. That is why the demon guru appointed him as the king of demons, and he married 'Brindar', the daughter of 'Kalnemi Asura'.

              Jalandhar is blessed with 'Parampita Brahma' austerities, "Jalandhar will be disobedient and invincible as long as his wife's chastity remains intact". Jalandhar became the lord of the Trilok, which caused the gods to be expelled from heaven. After gaining power, he began to oppress the sages and the entire human race. Exasperated by his oppression, all the gods and sages took refuge in 'Lord Vishnu'. But "born in the sea of ​​Jalandhar is the brother of Goddess Lakshmi, besides Jalandhar's wife Brinda is an absolute husband and an absolute devotee of Lord Vishnu". For all these reasons, Lord Vishnu will not kill Jalandhar.

              Everyone left disappointed. Shortly after this, one day when 'Narad Muni' appeared before Jalandhar, Jalandhar asked him "Who is the greatest beauty in the world"? Narad Muni replied that Mahadev's half-sister 'Goddess Parvati' was the greatest beauty in the world. In this, Jalandhar sends an envoy to Kailash and proposes to Goddess Parvati to "leave Shiva and Kailash and become his wife" but Goddess Parvati becomes angry and the envoy returns to Jalandhar in fear. Jalandhar became angry and declared war on Mahadev and attacked Kailash. As a result, his fierce battle with Mahadev began. But "it is not possible to kill Jalandhar as long as Vrinda's chastity is intact due to the gift of Brahma."

               When the slaying of Jalandhar became almost impossible even for Mahadev himself, all the gods came together and again took refuge in 'Lord Vishnu'. Vrinda is an absolute devotee of Lord Vishnu so only Lord Vishnu can save the world by breaking the chastity of Vrinda.

               Hearing the prayers of the gods, "Lord Vishnu took the form of Jalandhar and went to Vrinda." Brinda was relieved to see her husband "protected from the ravages of Mahakal" and hugged him. "Brinda hugged a stranger thinking she was her husband, which broke her chastity to some extent", which led to the slaying of Jalandhar and the victory of Mahadev.

               But as soon as Vrinda hugged him, she realized that he was not her husband, he was someone else. Vrinda gets angry and asks him to come in real form. When Lord Vishnu assumed his direct form, it was as if the sky fell on Vrinda's head. "The God he has worshiped selflessly all his life has betrayed him so much." Brinda said angrily and sadly, "Only a hard-hearted person can do such a thing, so O Narayan, you will become that stone." Saying this, Brinda connected the fire and sacrificed her life in it and while burning in the fire, she said, "After my death, my husband may come and look for me like crazy, so O Narayan, the time will come when you will also look for your wife like crazy."

               Lord Vishnu heard all this and he said, "I did not cheat with you, but I am giving salvation to your husband. He was a part of Mahadev and he was reunited with Mahadev. Jalandhar has been liberated forever from the cycle of rebirth and will live in the third eye of Mahadev".Vrinda regrets hearing Lord Vishnu's words and when she goes to seek forgiveness from the Lord, the Lord says, "There is no reason for you to repent, you have always practiced your wife's religion and there is no harm in your devotion to me. Because of you, the whole world is going to see a new form of me today, From today, one of my forms will be worshiped in the world as Shalgram Shila. I also accepted your second curse, when I descend in the form of Rama in Tretayuga, my wife will be deprived and I will look for her like crazy as you say. You too will become immortal, you will be reborn as a Tulsi tree and I will never worship without you".

              Millions of years after this event, Lord Vishnu will incarnate as 'Krishna'. Then Brinda took the responsibility of arranging his playground. According to his name, the name of that playground is 'Vrindavan' which means 'Forest of Tulsi'.

              There was another reason behind Vrinda being born as Tulsi. When Brinda was a teenager, she was fascinated by 'Ganesh' and wanted to marry him, but Ganesh told her that he had decided to have Chirkumar. When Ganesha rejected him in this way, he became angry and cursed Ganesha, "Ganesha will have two wives". Ganesha also got angry after getting cursed for no reason and he also cursed Brinda. He said, "You will be born in the form of a tree and will be forever deprived of my worship."

               This curse of Ganesha was turned into a gift by Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu and his incarnations do not worship without Tulsipatra, but Tulsi is eternally excluded from his worship despite being born in the Ganesh Narayan part. Ganesha had two marriages under the curse of Vrinda, the names of Ganesha's two wives - 'Siddhi and Buddhi'.

There are similar stories of 'Shankhachur' and 'Tulsi' in 'Brahmavaivarta Purana'.