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This is a tourist center for followers of Lord Vishnu in Una sub-district of Junagadh District. Situated in the center of Gir, to 30 km from the town of Una, it is known for its great natural beauty. It has additional attraction of Hot Water springs and in the Puranas these are refened to as 'Taptodak' .Legend says that Lord Krishna eliminated the demon called Tul and so the place is associated with his name along with
that of Krishna as Shyam and is thus called Tulsishyam. A story from the Puranas says that a demon called Jalandhar had great strength. His wife Vrinda was a very pious lady. No one in the three Loks could defeat Jalandhar and so even the gods were now tired of him. They appealed to Lord Vishnu for this, and the Lord assumed the fonn of the demon and went to his wife Vrinda and thus her 'pativrata' status came to an end. As the demon returned the trick was revealed to her and she cursed the Lord to turn into a stone. But she regretted her anger and so sat on a funeral pyre and burned herself to death. Lord Vishnu also regretted that he had resorted to such a trick on her to punish her husband. At the site of the pyre a plant of Tulsi had come up, and Lord Visnhu now began to shower His love over it. He promised that.he will marry her in her next birth. Then Vrinda was born as Rukmini and she married Lord Krishna who was the Avatar of Lord Vishnu. This is why it is said that the Tulsi plant is very dear to Lord Vishnu and it acquired another name, Vishnupriya. On the 11th day of bright half of Kartik month, Tulsi man'ies Lord Shaligram, and on this day the 'Annakuta' is distributed. This place also has a temple of Kunti.
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