Once, a devoted woman approached Shiva, the three-eyed Lord, and fervently pleaded, “Give me a husband, give me a husband, give me a husband!” Hearing her repeated request, Shiva, the master of rasa, smiled gently. By the power of this blessing, she became the cherished wife of the five Pandavas. Meanwhile, Rama, after winning Sita—the enchanting one—in Lanka, ruled over Bharata for eleven thousand years. In another divine unfolding, Vedavati, who was a portion of Lakshmi herself, entered into Kamala. The four Vedas, too, are always present in embodied form. Thus, the story of Kushadhvaja’s daughter has been briefly recounted. Narayana continued: Out of passion, she sported joyfully with the king on the slopes of Mount Gandhamadana. Together, they prepared a bed for pleasure, adorned with fragrant flowers and sandal paste. She was a jewel among women, graceful and radiant, adorned with precious ornaments. Their union was unceasing, for both were skilled in the arts of love. When she became menstruous, however, he respectfully refrained from further intimacy. Soon after, she conceived, and, remaining ever chaste, she carried the embryo for a hundred divine years. At an auspicious moment, on a bright full moon day in the month of Kartika, she gave birth. The child was born with lotus-like feet, glowing with the hue of padmarāga gems, and blessed with the fortune of royalty—the very goddess presiding over royal prosperity. Her lips were like ripe bimba fruit; she smiled as she gazed about the house. With three gentle folds below her navel and rounded, swaying hips, she was dark-complexioned, with beautiful hair and a lovely form, shaped like a banyan tree. No man or woman who saw her could find any comparison to her beauty. She was, by the measure of the earth, perfectly fitting, as is the nature of women. For a hundred thousand divine years, she performed the most supreme austerities. In summer, she practiced the five-fold fire austerity; in winter, she stood in the cold waters. For twenty thousand years, she sustained herself only on fruits and water, and for forty thousand more, she lived on air alone. So subtle and difficult to perceive was her tapas, that the lotus-born Brahma, seeing her standing on one foot, was moved. She beheld Brahma, the Four-faced One, whose vehicle is the swan, present before her. Brahma spoke: “Whether it is devotion to Hari, or liberation, or even immortality and freedom from old age—ask for what you desire.” Tulasi replied: “In the presence of the all-knowing one, what shame could there be for me now? I, Tulasi, was once a gopi, dwelling in Goloka. Attached to Govinda, I was unsatisfied and fainted from longing. Radhika, angered, rebuked Govinda and cursed me. Then Govinda said to me, ‘You shall become a portion of me, four-armed.’ Having spoken thus, the Lord of the gods vanished from my sight. I then beheld Narayana, my beloved, serene and beautiful.” Brahma continued: “That exceedingly radiant portion of you was born in Bharata as Alabhya. Now, because of Radhika’s curse, he was born in the race of the Danavas. Having seen you before in Goloka, his mind was agitated by desire.” Thus, the tale of Tulasi’s origins, her austerities, and her divine connection to Govinda and the world of gods and mortals, was lovingly revealed.