This is from long ago. There was an asura named Jalandhar. It is said that he was born of Shiv ji's own tej, which had gone into the ocean, and so he grew mighty beyond measure. His city was called Jalandhar Nagari. He married Vrinda, the daughter of Kalanemi, king of the asuras. Vrinda was wholly devoted to her husband, a pativrata, and her bhakti for Vishnu ji was deep.
As long as Vrinda's pativrat stood unbroken, no one could defeat Jalandhar, and no one could kill him. Her faithfulness was his armour. Proud of that strength, Jalandhar began to torment the rishis and the devas, and the devas, beaten by him again and again, lived in distress.
Once, drunk on the strength of his arms, Jalandhar set out to make war for Lakshmi Maa, wanting her for himself. But he too had been born of the ocean, as she had, and so Lakshmi Maa accepted him as her brother. He came back from there, but his pride did not grow any less.
His pride grew until he cast his eyes even on Parvati Maa. Taking on Shiv ji's own form, he went before Parvati Maa on Mount Kailash, but she knew him at once and vanished from that place. Parvati Maa told Vishnu ji the whole of his wickedness. Then it was settled that Jalandhar's end had come, and Shiv ji went out to fight him.
The battle went on and on, and still Jalandhar did not fall, for Vrinda's pativrat was guarding him. The devas, in despair, came to Vishnu ji for refuge. All of them understood that until Vrinda's pativrat was broken, the world would not be free of Jalandhar.
Vishnu ji appeared in the guise of a rishi in the forest where Vrinda was walking alone. By His maya two asuras of illusion appeared there too; Vrinda was frightened at the sight of them, and in an instant the rishi burned both to ash. Seeing his power, Vrinda asked him, "O great rishi, my husband is fighting Mahadev on Kailash. Tell me something of him." By his maya the rishi brought forth two monkeys: one held Jalandhar's head, the other his body. Seeing her husband so, Vrinda fell to the ground in a faint, and when she came to herself she begged the rishi to give her husband back his life.
By His maya Bhagwan joined Jalandhar's head to the body, but He Himself entered that body; in this way He took on Jalandhar's form. Taking Him for her husband, Vrinda received Him as a wife receives her husband. She knew nothing of the deception, and in that moment her pativrat was broken.
As Vrinda's pativrat broke here, Jalandhar's strength failed him there, and Shiv ji slew him in battle.
When Vrinda learned all that had happened, her grief turned to anger. She said to Vishnu ji, "O Bhagwan, You have broken my pativrat with a heart of stone. I curse You: become a stone." Vishnu ji honoured Vrinda's curse and became a stone, and that stone is called the Shaligram.
With the protector of the world turned to stone, the whole world fell out of balance. The devas and Lakshmi Maa went to Vrinda and begged her to free Bhagwan from the curse. Vrinda freed Vishnu ji from her curse, and then, grieving for her husband, she entered the fire herself.
In the place where Vrinda became ash, a plant sprang up. That plant is the tulsi.
Vishnu ji said, "Vrinda, by your faithfulness you have become dearer to Me than even Lakshmi. Now, as Tulsi, you will always be with Me; you will rest upon My head, and I will accept no bhog without your leaf on it. My Shaligram form will stay with you, and whoever marries Tulsi to My Shaligram form will win great honour in this world and the next."
Since then, every year in the month of Kartik, once Vishnu ji has woken from His yoganidra, Tulsi Maa is married to Shaligram ji in home after home. The family gives her away in kanyadaan as it would its own daughter, and no bhog is offered to Vishnu ji without a tulsi leaf.
It is said that the messengers of Yamraj do not go before their time to a house where Tulsi Maa stands, and that whoever offers shraddha for the pitars in the shade of the tulsi and the amla tree brings them moksha.
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