significance of shalagrama shilas

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dear shivbhakts

om namo bhagawate rudraya

 

shivapurana narrates the story behind the holy shalagrama shilas in

the book rudra samhita, fifth chapter as follows:

 

tulasi, daughter of dharmadhvaja marries sankhachooda, son of

dhambha. in his previous birth he was sudama, a comrade of krishna.

due to the curse of radha, sudama becomes a daanava and is born as

sankhachooda. while sankhachooda was busy fighting with shiva, it was

mentioned by brahma that as long as sankhachooda wears the divine

armour and as long as his wife maintains the marital fidelity,

sankhachooda has no death or oldage. then lord vishnu approaches

sankhachooda in the disguise of an old brahmin and seek this armour

as alms. sankhachooda, truthful of his word to the brahmin gives

away the protective armour to vishnu in disguise. after snatching

this armour by deception, vishnu approaches tulasi in the guise of

sankhachooda and have sex with tulasi, after which act tulasi

realises that she was enjoyed deceptively by vishnu and gives a curse

to vishnu that since he outraged her modesty ruthlessly like a rock

without any offence of her, he would become a rock. then shiva grants

a boon to tulasi that her body would become sacred river gandaki and

the holy basil plant by her name would be the most holiest of all

plants. as the presiding diety of this plant, tulasi will assume a

divine form and is forever in the company of lord vishnu. vishnu will

assume the form of a rock on the banks of gandaki river and crores of

terrible sharptoothed germs shall penetrate and erode the rock and

carve rings on it and these pieces shall be known as shalagrama rocks

and meritorious of worship. differentiated by the rings, they shall

be known as lakshminarayana etc. lord shiva also states that these

shalagrama shilas signify vishnu's contact with tulasi and further

states that if anyone plucks the leaves of tulasi lying on the

shalagrama, he will be separated from his wife in the next birth. if

anyone plucks tulasi leaves without using conch, he will become a

widower and a chronic patient for seven births. he who keeps

shalagrama, tulasi and sankha in one place, will be a favourite of

vishnu. after narrating this story sanatkumara says that vishnu has

become a rock and germs make different kinds of holes therein and the

pieces that fall into the water are highly meritorious as

shalagramas. those that remain on the dry land are known as pingalas

and are harmful.

 

the above story in succinct is taken from the shivapuarana, four

volumes published by motilalbanarsidas. this particular story

appears in second volume pages 973 to 978.

 

with best wishes and blessings

pandit arjun

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