Lord Rama and the touch me not plant

Lord Rama   and the touch me not  plant

By

P.R.Ramachander

( based on write up  in face book by Sri Gautham Iyengar.  Thanks to him. Mimosa  Pudica  is the famous  touch me not plant  . It is called  “Lajawanthi  (she who is shy )  in Hindi and Shame  plant in English. I never knew  there is a story behind it )

Rama along with Viswamithra stood ,

Before  Sage  Gauthama’s  Ashram,

Rama’s  feet   touched  a stone ,

And  Ahalya  , got  her   own  form

A  thorny plant  below  that stone ,

Caught   hold  of   Rama’s  feet  ,

And summoned   sage  Gauthama,

And asked  him , “What crime  I did do?”

The sage   as well as Rama   did not follow,

And the stone   said, “when Ahalya   fell,

AS a stone here  , she fell on me  , crushing me,

And not allowing   me to grow      at all.”

Rama asked   the  plant , “you stopped me today,

But having seen  Indra   crow  like a cock  ,

Why did  you not stop   the sage from going to bath?”

Why did   you not  stop Indra   from running away like this?”

The plant  felt   terribly guilty   and terribly ashamed ,

And closed  all its leaves and  Rama  left that place.

From then on  it feels  that  every body   who touches  it,

Are Rama and closes  its leaves and is called ”touch me not plant”