John Carbone

Vaisnava Goddess As Plant: Tulasi in Text and Context: a Study of the Sacred Tulasi Plant, in Hindu Myth Andpractice John Carbone

The TulasÄ« plant (Ocimum sanctum) is viewed withinthe purview of Hinduism as a form of the goddessLaká¹£mÄ«, or a consort of the god Viṣṿu. Thisdesignation seems to originate within the corpus ofPurÄṿic texts composed in the Sanskrit language fromapproximately the 5th to 15th centuries CE. Thesanctity of the plant, and other forms of vegetation,resembles even earlier cults of Yaká¹£a and Yakṣī, ornature spirit, worship. The adoration of the plantcontinues into modernity in various ways. This paperexamines the TulasÄ« plant through the various mythsdescribing her sanctity, as well as how these mythsare interpreted by modern devotees of the plant.