ശ്രീ തുലസീ ചാലീസാ

A Hindi chalisa to Tulasi as a queen rather than as a plant, addressed throughout as maharani, and its argument is about rank. Vishnu himself gave her honour, and from that her fame spread through the world; she is Vishnu's beloved and the mine of ease for the three worlds; and the practical consequence, which the chalisa states early and returns to, is that worship offered to the Lord without her is not accepted. That is the belief the whole household observance rests on — the leaf placed on the offering — and the chalisa is essentially an argument for it in forty lines. It belongs with the courtyard plant and the evening lamp set beside it rather than with the temple, and its requests are for the removal of the difficulties of a household.