Tulsi, come back

A fortnight after the grand Diwali celebrations comes what the Hindu calendar describes as the tulsi vivah. The deities, who have gone into ...

A fortnight after the grand Diwali celebrations comes what the Hindu calendar describes as the tulsi vivah. The deities, who have gone into hibernation during the shraadh period, now re-emerge. It is after the deity is wedded to the herbal plant that the muhurat is considered auspicious for mortal wedding ceremonies.

There is an interesting story about how this ceremony came about. It is said that Lord Krishna once spotted a beautiful woman called Vranda. Being the prankster he was, he teased her. Vranda was offended by Krishna8217;s overtures and cursed him, saying that he would turn into a stone until she touched him and transformed him back into his original avtaar. In her next birth, says the fable, Vranda was born as a tulsi plant, and while being sown into the soil touched the Shaligram stone that was Lord Krishna. Repentant, Lord Krishna then proposes marriage to Tulsi, and they live happily ever after. The same theme resurfaced in the Hindi film, Benaam Badshah. A gangster Anil Kapoor rapes a chaste girl Juhi Chawla. Later, filled with remorse, he offers to marry the woman he raped and gradually the two learn to love and respect each other.

Some religious books, however, have a contradictory version of this story. According to them, Vranda spotted the alluring Krishna and was mesmerised by his beauty. But coming from humble origins, she did not muster the courage to express herself and died with repressed desire. To salvage her from her suffering, she is re-born as a herbal plant who comes into contact with the Shaligram stone. Lord Krishna is overwhelmed by her devotion and Tulsi acquires a special place in his heart.

Tulsi8212;played by a series of stars from Meena Kumari in the black and white days, to Smriti Irani in Ekta Kapoor8217;s Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi8212;has been omnipresent in Hindi films. There have also been special song sequences devoted to her like, 8216;Jyoti kalash chhalke8230;8217; Bhabhi Ki Choodiyan. In the 8217;70s starrer, Sanjog, there is an elaborate song sequence where Mala Sinha and Aroona Irani both married to Amitabh Bachchan recall mythological tales. It was Raj Khosla, some time in the 8217;80s, who changed the cinematic interpretation of Tulsi forever. She turned from the embodiment of piety to a pariah with just one film, Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, where the director portrayed her as the 8216;Other Woman8217; in the hero8217;s life Goldie Anand played the role. She was still someone the Lord the hero loved, but not someone who could invade his private sphere.

It has now been almost 25 years since that film. Perhaps it is time for a creative filmmaker, well-versed in the tulsi vivah tradition, to redefine Tulsi, and locate her once again in her rightful place: the hero8217;s heart.