Shankhchur was a powerful demon who hated deities. His wife Tulsi was a great devotee of Narayan. She was a very faithful lady and because of the power of her faithfulness, Shankhchur was invincible.
Who was Shankhchur?
One day Shri Krishna was sleeping. His best friend Sridhama (Sudama) started guarding his room so that nobody would disturb him. When Radha came to meet her beloved Krishna, Sridhama prevented her to enter. Furious Radha cursed him that he will become a demon in next birth.
When Krishna knew about the incidence, he consoled Sridhama and blessed him that He will come and create a path for his freedom.
Sridhama became Shankhchur in his next birth. Shankhchur was extremely powerful with strong character and principles. He was a mighty warrior and person.
Shankhchur hated deities because he believed that deities are opportunists and traitors. But Shankhchur always had some kind of attraction towards Narayan. In spite of his hatred towards deities, he never prevented any citizen of his kingdom from worshiping.
Death of Shankhchur
Shankhchur, with the help of Lohitang, attacked heaven and defeated Indra. He became the king of heaven and gave position to both deities and demons in his court.
With the turn of destiny, he attacked Kailash. Nandi, Ganesh, Kartikeya, ghouls and goblins fought but failed to defeat him. He was invincible because of the powers of the faithfulness of his wife, Tulsi.
Shankhchur was supporting Lohitang who wanted to destroy Shiva.
Curse of Tulsi
Shankhchur needed to be stopped because he was supporting the unrighteousness. Also Shankhchur wasn’t destined to be a demon. He got curse and Narayan wanted to free him from the demon class.
Tulsi was conducting a prayer in which she was about to give ultimate protection to her husband. Deities were worried and went to Narayan for the solution.
Narayan, being the moderator of this world, had no other option left but to break the faithfulness of Tulsi. He went in the disguise of Shankchur near Tulsi where she organized her prayer and accepted him as her everything. This way she got married with Narayan and her faithfulness broke down.
Narayan appeared in his real form. When she saw Narayan, she understood the situation and felt cheated. She went into deep sorrow and cursed Narayan that He will become a stone (Shaligram) just like his heart. Narayan apologized for his act and accepted the curse. He blessed Tulsi that she will always be worshiped before him.
Narayan then described Tulsi why he did so. According to the curse of Radha, Sridhama got the birth as demon. He needed to be freed from that demon class but Tulsi’s protection was preventing that. Also Shankhchur was on the side of unrighteousness and Narayan can do anything to stop evils. He can bear any pain or curse to fulfill his duties to moderate this world. He can even fight Shiva to stop destruction. He can take the wrong path to kill the wrong. He can break his own promises to respect the boons of others. For Narayan, righteousness is everything and he can go to any extent to protect it.
Tulsi felt very sorry when she got the knowledge of Sridhama and how she was preventing him to get freedom. With deep sorrow, Tulsi asked Narayan to free her from her painful life. Narayan accepted her wish and she died there. This way Narayan created the path of freedom for Sridhama as he promised him but in the whole process he got a curse.
Shiva killed Shankhchur
When nobody was able to defeat Shankchur on Kailash then Shiva appeared. Narayan already destroyed the protection of Tulsi on Shankchur so Shiva killed him with his trident.
Narayan welcomed the soul of Sridhama and gave him freedom from the cycle of life and death (Moksha).
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