[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975) › c9.3343 # Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3343 Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c9.3343 - **Language:** English ### [c9.3343](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9.3343) King Dharmadhvaja had a wife named Mādhavī. Mahālakṣmī entered her womb as an embryo and after a hundred years Mādhavī gave birth to a daughter. Even at the time of birth the child looked like a matured girl and was extremely pretty. She was therefore, called Tulasī, meaning matchless. (Tula = match). This Tulasī abandoning all worldly pleasures went to Badarikāśrama and started doing penance there with the prayer that Mahāviṣṇu should become her husband. She did penance for twentyfour thousand years sitting amidst fire in the hot season and sitting in water in the cold season and taking only fruits and water as food. Then she did penance for another thirtythousand years eating leaves only, another forty thousand years taking air only as food and another ten thousand years without any food. At this stage Brahmā appeared and asked her the object of her Penance. She replied she wanted Mahāviṣṇu to be her husband. Hearing this Brahmā said thus—“Devi, you know the cowboy Sudāmā born of a part of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That brilliant cowboy has now been born on earth, due to a curse of Rādhā, as a demon named Śaṅkhacūḍa. He is matchlessly eminent and has once fallen in love with you seeing you at Goloka. You will become his wife and later you can become the wife of Nārāyaṇa. At that time a part of your divine body will remain on earth as a plant named Tulasī. Tulasī will become the most sacred of all plants, dear to Viṣṇu, and all worship without using Tulasī leaves would be ineffective.” - [Previous: c9.3342](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9.3342) - [Next: c9.3344](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9.3344) - [Up: c9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9.3343](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.mani-1975.c9.3343) · Pramāṇa