Bhagavan Siva’s annihilating of Demon Jalandhar was the legend further described by Lord Brahma to Devarshi Narada. A child was born at the terminating point of River Ganges and the Ocean, known as Gangasagar. As the child was crying loud incessantly, the attention of Deities and Sages was drawn to Lord Brahma, who appeared on the spot and prophesied that he was destined to become a King of Demons known for his ferocity and could be killed only by Bhagavan Siva. The Lord named the child as Jalandhar since he had so much of energy that he hurt the neck of Brahma and the latter had tears in His eyes! The Lord entrusted the child’s upbringing to the care of the Sea. Jalandhar grew and married Vrinda the daughter of Kalanemi the Demon King and eventually became the King himself. In course of time, Jalandhar occupied Indra’s seat in a battle and the latter and the Devas approached Vishnu who nodoubt subdued Jalandhar but Lakshmi Devi requested Vishnu to not only spare the Demon as She considered the latter as Her brother since both of them were associated with Samudra Deva (the Sea) but even allow Jalandhar to stay in ‘Kshirasagara’ along with Her! Devas were hurt but had to suffer.
Meanwhile Narada created a problem to Jalandhar that his riches and powers were not at all comparable to Lord Siva who was not only the mightiest but His Consort Parvati was the most attractive in the entire World. The Demon was tempted and asked Rahu to mediate for his possession of Parvati. Bhagavan became furious and threw out Rahu as he was only an emissary. Jalandhar was unable to overcome his obsession for Parvati and approached Her with the proposal of marrying Her. She became motionless with such a ghastly proposal and informed of this incident to Vishnu. The latter pacified Parvati by saying that He would apply the same method of approaching Jalandhar’s wife Vrinda as a Brahmana and she would be also stunned in the same manner as Parvati when Jalandhar approached Her. Sometime later Vishnu impersonated like Jalandhar and pretended as her husband and on learning of the truth she ended her life while cursing Vishnu that His wife would also face a similar situation. [Indeed this did happen likewise when Ravana abducted Sita and Rama was searching for Her all over!] Jalandhar provoked the Demon Brothers Sumbh and Nisumbh to challenge Siva who reataliated almost killing them and warned them that not long later Bhagavati Herself kept the task of destroying them. Jalandhar himself entered the battle field with Bhagavan and He slit the Demon’s head with a fiery ‘chakra’ produced from His toe! The Deities hailed Bhagavan for this memorable action and prayed to Him in great relief and gratitude. While Devas were delighted at the termination of Jalandhar, Lord Vishnu was suffering a guilt complex about the self immolation executed by Vrinda, the wife of Jalandhar. He applied the ashes of her burnt body all over His body and started performing penance. The Devas were concerned about His condition and approached Maha Siva, who in turn asked Parvati to rally the support of Lakshmi and Sarasvati in this context. The three Devis gave the seeds of three trees viz. Amla, Tulsi and Malati to the Deities and spray the seeds at the place where Vrinda immolated.The seeds manifested as plants which were forwarded to Vishnuloka as tokens of blessings to Vrinda’s soul at Vaikuntha.
