Note 54 — Chapter II · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Reading edition
The plantain is also sacred, probably on account of the value of its fruit. The leaves are hung on the marriage booth, and a branch is placed near the pole or sacred fire round which the bride and bridegroom revolve. In Madras, when premature delivery takes place, the child is laid on a plantain leaf smeared with oil, the leaf is changed daily, and the baby is thus treated for the period which is less than the normal time of delivery. In Bengal, in consecrating an image of Durgâ, a plantain tree is brought in and bathed. It is clothed as a woman with Bel apples representing the breasts; nine sorts of leaves smeared with red paint are hung round the breast and it is worshipped.54 The leaves are also used as a remedy for wounds and ulcers, a practice which prevailed in the time of Shakespeare. In “Romeo and Juliet” Benvolio says:—