Long and Short of ‘Tulsi’ and Basil
It all started one fine morning when I was shopping for vegetables and herbs in a local grocery store. I was looking for the basil leaves as I was going to prepare some pasta that evening. While picking up the basil leaves, I recollected a conversation I once had with one of my girl students in my class. Where she had asked me,” Maam, tulsi is called basil in English. Is basil and tulsi same? I don’t know why I remembered this conversation today. Probably because these days I have begun to analyze more deeply conventions that were a part of my life when I was a young girl. I don’t remember giving a satisfactory answer to the question asked by my student, but I remember telling her that though tulsi is called basil in English but tulsi in the Indian context is very different.
Its been now years since that question was asked. In my life tulsi plant and its leaves have become more popular for its medicinal quality. The tulsi tea, the tulsi drink, the tulsi cough syrup etc. have adorned my kitchen shelves and cabinets. I have a tulsi plant flourishing in my house for some time and I try my best to keep it green and healthy. That has remained my connection to the tulsi plant and at times I have also used its leaves while doing pooja.
Today when I came out of the grocery store with basil leaves for my pasta dish, my mind kept wandering to the time when basil leaves never existed in our lives, only connection we had with ‘basil leaves’ was the ‘tulsi leaves and tulsi plant’ that my mother and grandmothers used to hold in high esteem. I remember we had a ‘tulsi van’ a huge area devoted to ‘tulsi plants’ in our garden. Every time my throw ball used to go in those tulsi van bushes, I was supposed to bow my head with respect to the plant before retrieving my ball. I should not annoy ‘tulsi maiya’ I was instructed. As with many other rules I followed that rule as well without asking many questions, just accepting it as the way of life. Everyone used to do it, so I also did it.
Just few days back we celebrated ‘Tulsi Vivah festival in our country, this festival generally beckons the marriage season in India. Tulsi Vivah is the ceremonial wedding of the Tulsi plant to Vishnu, in the form of his image, Shaligram or a Krishna or Rama image. Both the bride and the groom are ritually worshipped and then married as per traditional Hindu wedding rituals, so the day inaugurates the annual marriage season.
The ‘Sanatan dharm’ attaches so much appreciation for the trees, flowers, and many natural phenomena that it fascinates me. My maternal and paternal grandmothers had different stories to tell me about the ‘tulsi plant’, while my maternal grandmother told me that tulsi was a manifestation of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and principal consort of Vishnu and worship of Krishna is not completed without an offering of ‘tulsi’, my paternal grandmother narrated a totally different story about the birth of ‘tulsi’ she related tulsi to the ‘Samudra Manthan’, the churning of the cosmic ocean by the gods and asuras (demons). At the end of the churning, Dhanvantari, the god of medicine and a ‘vishnu avtaar’ rose from the ocean with Amrit (the elixir of immortality). Vishnu procured the Amrit for the gods when the demons tried to steal it. Vishnu shed happy tears, the first of which fell in Amrit and formed Tulsi.
WOW! What a captivating account! I still remember most of it. This is the beauty of mythology that it keeps us all connected to nature and the lofty tales woven around plants, trees, flowers, herbs, and their importance for mankind, keep us all interested.
Just to prove my point I want to write here that the revered place given to simple plants, trees and flowers in our scriptures makes us responsible towards the planet and all the natural endowments. While tree worship is not uncommon in ‘sanatan dharm’ the Tulsi plant is regarded as the holiest of all plants. The Tulsi plant is regarded as a threshold point between heaven and earth. A traditional prayer narrates that the creator-god Brahma resides in its branches, all Hindu pilgrimage centres reside in its roots, the Ganges flows within its roots, all deities are in its stem and its leaves, and that the most sacred Hindu texts, the Vedas are found in the upper part of the holy basil's branches. The Tulsi herb is a centre of household religious devotion particularly among women and is referred to as the "women's deity" and "a symbol of wifehood and motherhood.
If I start describing the innumerable ways the humble holy basil finds itself described and hailed in different parts of India, I will end up writing a book, but this consolidates my belief that the Hindu view of nature is based upon the philosophical views of Vedas and Upnishads and various devotional and ritualistic practices. There is no separation between the Divine and the world of nature. They are the two aspects of the same reality. Protecting the environment and nature is part of ‘dharma’ for us and this is such an empowering message given to humanity.
This brings me back to the humble holy Tulsi and its grandiose interpretation in our daily life!
While preparing my pasta the aroma of the basil leaves tingles my olfactory senses and a bit of my catechism, why is Tulsi taboo in the worship of the Devi? Why the Hindu Divine Mother does not like the pungent aroma of the Tulsi plant? Why tulsi angers her? When tulsi is said to be ‘Laxmi’ the Vishnu’s consort and there is ‘Tulsi Vivah’ festival as well then why ‘Tulsi’ is not used for ‘Devi’ worship? My questions will never stop. Because there are my questions, there is this quest to know more about my culture.
I thought if my grandmas were alive today, I would have told them many more stories of ‘Tulsi’ and if my mother was alive she would have definitely be happy watching me getting interested in simple little things connected to my culture.
Well, no need to say, tomato/ basil pasta dish was a success and everyone liked it and praised me on the dining table. I looked at the basil leaf in my plate and told it, “Dear leaf, you are no ordinary thing, you are a tear drop of Narayana himself!” I laughed loudly to myself at this intimate conversation, my son and husband looked at me strangely and shook their heads.