TULSI, QUEEN OF HERBS 

Restoring ancient partnerships between people and plants.  

Tulsi, Queen of Herbs tells the story of a remarkable healing plant, how she is inspiring a diverse group of people, and how the two are working together to restore the health of individuals, communities and the planet.

Tulsi - ocimum sanctum or holy basil - is the supreme herb of ayurvedic and Indian folk medicine, healing illnesses from coughs, colds and headaches to malaria, diabetes, heart disease and radiation sickness. She is worshipped daily in Hindu homes as an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi.

The people working with Tulsi are herbalists, farmers, doctors, gypsies, vets, mothers, priests, and dancers in India, America, and England.

Kailash, a farmer once almost ruined by Monsanto's pesticides and seeds, is now a thriving organic Tulsi grower. Pratabi is a herbalist using Tulsi to treat communities suffering from industrial toxins. Dr Singh is an ayurvedic doctor researching the science of Tulsi’s phyto-chemical compounds. Sri Sharma is a Hindu priest working to reforest the sacred Tulsi groves of Vrindavan.

As cement, urban sprawl, cell phones and computers isolate us from the natural world, humans are no longer in daily communion with plants and other living species. This separation from nature is at the root of unprecedented levels of suffering and disease for people, animals, plants and the planet.

Through the stories of the people working with Tulsi and through the story of Tulsi herself, we come to understand the particular solutions this plant offers, and the urgent need to re-establish a symbiotic relationship with nature.

Tulsi is our heroine. With a poetic first person voice-over and dream-like interpretations of the Tulsi myths, the film tells Tulsi's story from her origins as a goddess at the beginning of time to the recent devastation of the green world. Today Tulsi is going forth from her native India inspiring people all over the world to work in partnerships with the plants.

Tulsi has become an ambassador for the plant kingdom.

Dissolving the conventional boundaries between plants and people, Tulsi, Queen of Herbs draws us into the green world, giving us a rare understanding and feeling for our inter-connectedness and bringing about a deep transformation in our consciousness.