Banana or Plantain leaves have a partition through the
middle. The story as to how the banana leaves got the partition is associated
with Bhagavan Sri Ram and Hanuman. The incident happened in the ashram of Sage
Bharadwaja.
Bhagvan Sri Ram, Mata Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman were
returning from Lanka after rescuing Mata Sita and defeating Ravana. They were
heading towards Ayodhya.
They decided to take rest at the ashram of Sage Bharadwaja.
When food was about to be served, Bhagavan Sri Ram drew a
line across the banana leaf that was provided to him to make it into two half.
He wanted to have food with Hanuman on the same leaf.
Sri Ram did this to acknowledge the services rendered by
Hanuman and also to show to the world what unwavering devotion can fetch.
Thus God and his prime devotee had food from a single banana
leaf.
From that day onward banana leaves started having a natural
partition.