Ac­cord­ing to an­cient Hin­du be­lief, it is es­sen­tial that at least one Tul­si plant, com­mon­ly known as Holy Basil, In­di­an Basil or Sa­cred Basil, which helps to ward off evil and neg­a­tive en­er­gies, with heal­ing pow­ers, should ex­ist in the yard/gar­den of every home. It is cus­tom­ary to plant Tul­si in the month of Kar­tik.

The Skand Pu­ran: 18 re­li­gious texts, 81,000 vers­es, ti­tled af­ter Skan­da, the son of Shi­va and Par­vati, fea­tur­ing top­ics that in­clude mythol­o­gy, ge­ol­o­gy, dhar­ma and ge­og­ra­phy. It al­so deals with virtues and evil, the na­ture of Shi­va. The Skand Pu­ran says that one gets rid of the sins of as many lives as the num­ber of Tul­si plants one grows.

Pad­ma Pu­ran: one of the 18 ma­jor pu­ranas, named af­ter the lo­tus in which the Cre­ator, Brah­ma, ap­peared. The Pad­ma Pu­ran as­serts that wher­ev­er there is a gar­den of Tul­si plants, that place is like a pil­grim­age. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Ya­ma, the God of Death, can­not en­ter this home. Homes with soil in which the Tul­si grows are free from dis­ease.

An­cient re­li­gious texts have praised the Tul­si in many ways. Air that car­ries the fra­grance of Tul­si ben­e­fits peo­ple it comes in con­tact with. Plant­i­ng and car­ing for Tul­si helps peo­ple get rid of their sins. Even if one Tul­si is grown, the pres­ence of Brah­ma, Vish­nu, Ma­hesh and oth­er gods is as­sured.

Kar­tik: Eighth month of Hin­du cal­en­dar, facts be­tween Oc­to­ber-No­vem­ber of the Geor­gian cal­en­dar. Con­sid­ered sa­cred for the wor­ship of Lord Vish­nu. Dur­ing the month of Kar­tik when prayers are of­fered to Tul­si, or new plants are grown, the ac­cu­mu­lat­ed sins of many births are ab­solved.

Tul­si af­fords aus­pi­cious op­por­tu­ni­ties gen­er­ous­ly. Si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly, it re­moves wor­ries and ten­sion. By of­fer­ing Tul­si leaves to Lord Kr­ish­na, one achieves sal­va­tion. With­out Tul­si, re­li­gious cer­e­monies re­main in­com­plete. When char­i­ty is giv­en along with Tul­si, it en­sures great ben­e­fits. And when shrad­dh is of­fered to fore­fa­thers near a Tul­si plant, it pleas­es them im­mense­ly.

Tul­si leaves have ex­cel­lent qual­i­ties and who­ev­er con­sumes them thrice dai­ly achieves pu­ri­ty and ben­e­fits of the chan­drayan fast (re­lat­ed to the wan­ing and wax­ing of the moon). Who­ev­er bathes in wa­ter in which a few Tul­si leaves have been added, is con­sid­ered to have bathed at all im­por­tant pil­grim cen­tres. Who­ev­er adds Tul­si leaves in the cha­ranam­rit of­fered in prayers and con­sumes it gets rid of all sins and at­tains sal­va­tion.

Such peo­ple are pro­tect­ed from ill health and sud­den death. The ad­di­tion of Tul­si leaves pro­tects wa­ter from de­te­ri­o­ra­tion. At the time of death, it is cus­tom­ary to mix Tul­si with Gan­ga wa­ter and put this in the mouth of the dy­ing per­son.

It is cus­tom­ary to of­fer prayers to the Tul­si plant in the evening and light a lamp. The woody stems of the plants that have died are used to make the beads for the sa­cred “Jape Mala” (rosaries). One at­tains the bless­ings of Sati Vrin­da and Lord Vish­nu. It is be­lieved that the penance of Vrin­da and her sur­ren­der and de­vo­tion to Lord Vish­nu be­came a part of the fra­grance and leaves of the Tul­si. It is cus­tom­ary to cir­cum­am­bu­late the Tul­si plant 108 times on Mon­day, which co­in­cides with the dark night of the month to get rid of in­suf­fi­cien­cy.

It is al­so said that who­ev­er of­fers a sin­gle Tul­si leaf to Lord Vish­nu and prays to him dai­ly, at­tains the ben­e­fits of a hun­dred thou­sand yagyas. And, at the time of death, even if a sin­gle drop of Tul­si wa­ter in­ters the mouth of a dy­ing per­son, Vish­nu Lok (abode of Vish­nu), it is at­tained def­i­nite­ly.

It is said that in its last birth, Tul­si was Vrin­da, mar­ried to Ja­land­har. To gain vic­to­ry over him, Lord Vish­nu per­suad­ed Vrin­da to give up de­vo­tion to her hus­band. Pleased with her, Vish­nu gave her his bless­ings. Through his bless­ings, she be­came Tul­si and is wor­shipped by peo­ple all over the world.

The leaves and plant may be used in cook­ing or to make tea (caf­feine free.) Eat­en raw, it has a spicy bit­ter taste. Drink­ing Tul­si wa­ter dai­ly is be­lieved to of­fer sev­er­al ad­van­tages, rang­ing from phys­i­cal to men­tal well-be­ing.

From the sci­en­tif­ic point of view, Tul­si is ex­cel­lent for phys­i­cal and men­tal health, boosts im­mu­ni­ty, heals in­fec­tions, pu­ri­fies blood, cures in­sect bites, and low­ers blood pres­sure. Tul­si al­so treats res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­or­ders and main­tains sug­ar lev­els. It is known to cure very se­ri­ous ail­ments, im­prove the im­mune sys­tem and pro­mote vigour and vi­tal­i­ty. It is ex­ten­sive­ly used in Ayurve­da.