Skanda Purana — Nagara Khanda, Shloka 5
तुलसी शुष्ककाष्ठेषु या रूपा विश्वव्यापिनी । मज्जायां पद्मवासा च त्वचासु च हरिप्रिया
tulasī śuṣkakāṣṭheṣu yā rūpā viśvavyāpinī | majjāyāṃ padmavāsā ca tvacāsu ca haripriyā
وہی تُلسی—جس کی صورت سارے جگ میں پھیلی ہوئی ہے—اپنی سوکھی لکڑی میں بھی بسی رہتی ہے۔ گودے میں پدم واسا (لکشمی) ہے، اور چھال میں ہری پریا، ہری کی محبوبہ۔
Skanda (deduced: Nāgarakhaṇḍa Tīrthamāhātmya narrative voice commonly attributes didactic praise to Skanda)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A cross-section vision of Tulasi: dried wood still glowing; pith revealed as a lotus-seat (Padmavāsā), bark as Haripriyā; the plant shown as cosmic, subtly filling the universe behind it.
FAQs
Tulasī is portrayed as intrinsically sacred in every part—wood, pith, and bark—making her constant reverence a direct form of devotion to Lakṣmī and Hari.
The verse functions as a Tīrthamāhātmya-style glorification of Tulasī herself rather than naming a single geographic tīrtha in this line.
No explicit ritual is prescribed here; it establishes the sanctity of Tulasī’s very substance as the basis for later practices (carrying, worship, service).