Tun Sf FOLKLORE OF INDIAN PLANTS.” 61 
Krishna being one of the incarnations of Vishnu (8th), his presence 
is identically constant in the plant. There is a day in the 
month of Kartik, the ]1th day in the first fortnight of the month 
when the Hindoos celebrate a wedding of the image of Krishna 
and the Tulsi plant. This plant is held in great veneration by 
the ladies particularly. It is worshipped every morning by 
those devout Hindoo ladies, who observe their ancient customs 
rigidly. After worshipping they go round the pot, in which 
the plant grows, a hundred times, or a thousand times, and im rare 
instances, on exceptional occasions, a hundred thousand times. 
Thus indirectly those who go through this apparently meaningless 
worship, get the opportunity of taking exercise of an early morning 
regularly, ending in a measure which is conducive to health. How- 
ever that may be, whether the Tulsi plant is worshipped or not it 
exists, or at any rate ought to exist, in the backyard or front of a 
ITindoo’s house, or among his collection of plants if he has any. 
The story told about the birth of this plant is this:—At the time 
of the churning of the great ocean, when fourteen jewels came out 
of the ocean, the goddess “ Lakshmi,” the gem “ Kaustubh ” 
and the plant ‘ Pairijtak” fell to the lot Vishnu, who, as I 
have already said, formed one of the trinity. The god was so 
overjoyed, that tears came out of his eyes, trickled down his cheeks 
and fell on the ground. From every drop of these tears sprang a 
plant of Tulsi. There is yet another account of the origin of this 
plant given very graphically by a writer in one of the recent num- 
bers of the Indian Antiquary. I may summarize the story briefly as 
t have heard it. The wife of a deity, named Jallandar, conceived a 
secret affection for Krishna. Silently loving him, she pined away-— 
and eventually died without a reciprocation of her attachment from 
Krishna. After her death he realized the extent of her affection, and 
mourned. sorely over the unrequited love of his admiring friend. 
But it was no use. Her body had been burnt. Her angelic form 
had disappeared “‘ earth unto earth and dust unto dust. ” Ashes 
alone had remained. What could Krishna do but weep? It was 
too late for anything else. He threw himself down on the hot 
ashes of the broken-hearted woman, and wept bitterly in the deep 
agonies of disappointment. From every drop of his tear, it is said, 
arose a Tulsi plant. This story appears to better account for the 
annual marriage of the god with the Tulsi plant, whereby he is 
united in spirit with the symbol of her that had loved him fervently 
