Lotus :meaning and significance

The lotus (bot. Nelumbo nucifera) is known by dozens of words in Sanskrit and the many languages of India, and it is probably the most popular object in traditional Indian art and architecture. The words denoting a lotus flower are ubiquitous in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain literature, and the lotus flower is prevalent in some form in most major Hindu temples and shrines. Although connected with many deities, it also has powerful appeal in secular literature and, nowadays, is the national flower of India. It is one of the few symbols in the Hindu tradition that represent both fertility and generative powers, on the one hand, and detachment and enlightenment, on the other. Art historians say that it represents the universe, the emergence of form from the formless, “the egg of nescience, or the seed of endless millions within the universe,” and “renewal and enlightenment” (Elgood, 1999, 64, 95). 
While connected with many deities in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the lotus is notably associated with Lakṣmī and Brahmā and also conspicuously linked with Viṣṇu, Sarasvatī, and the many manifestations of Mahādevī. The lotus is known by many Sanskrit words, and since these are also appellations of deities, they are used as names for both Hindu men and Hindu women. Many of these names are important in understanding the reality and symbolism of the lotus in Indian art, literature, and philosophies. It is “born in water” (ambuja, nīraja, jalaja), “found in a lake” (saroja, sarasija), or “growing in a pond” (saroruha); it is “born in slush and mud” (paṅkaja); and it is “dear to the sun” (ravipriya), which it needs in order to blossom. Other words for lotus include padma, nalina, aravinda, mṛnnalinī, puṇḍarīka, kamala, puṣkara,kumuda, rājīva, and vārija, and while some words denote a specific characteristic of the flower, most have come to mean a lotus in a generic sense or a concept, such as prosperity and wealth.

The Lotus and Hindu Deities: Auspiciousness and Generative Power 

Śrī, more popularly known as Lakṣmī, is eminently connected with the lotus. Her portrait, which depicts her standing or seated atop a resplendent lotus, graces millions of homes, shops, and businesses. Majestic on her red lotus, holding lotuses in her hand, and garlanded with lotus blossoms, she is said to bestow wealth and salvific grace just by glancing at a person. She is said to dwell in the lotus or in a forest of lotuses, and lotuses are all about her. She shares their hue and, in particular, their fragrance, for the scent of the lotus is as inseparable from its source as is Śrī’s grace from Śrī herself. 

As early as the Śrīsūkta (Hymn to Śrī), an appendix to the Ṛgveda , Śrī is repeatedly and enduringly connected with the lotus flower. She is seated on the lotus (padmesthitā), has the hue and form of the lotus (padmavarṇā, padminī, puṣkariṇī), and wears a garland of lotus flowers (padmamālinī). Supplementary verses, which were added in later times and are recited along with the original 14 verses of the Śrīsūkta, incorporate literally thousands of phrases and sentences from two millennia of texts in Sanskrit and vernacular languages, and iconography. These verses invoke and hail Lakṣmī as having lotus eyes (padmākṣī), having eyes as wide as the lotus leaves (padmadalāyatākṣī), having a face like a lotus (padmānanā), having thighs like a lotus (padma ūru), as born out of a lotus (padmasambhavā), as seated on a lotus (padmāsanā), as loving the lotus (padmapriyā), and as having limbs like a liana of a lotus blossom (padmavipadmapātrā); and finally, they petition her to place her lotus feet (pādapadma) on the devotee. Just about every prayer, every song, and every treatise written in the sectarian traditions connected with Viṣṇu and Lakṣṃī or Devī, or works in praise of gurus, has descriptions of various parts of their body – especially the eyes and feet – as lotus-like and deploy a battery of words to denote the beauty, color, and tenderness of the flower. 

In later literature, starting around the epic and puranic times, there seems to be a widespread understanding that Śrī and the lotus are both seen as abodes of pure and undiluted auspiciousness (kalyāṇa, maṅgala), and writers evidently seem to think of this connection as too obvious to comment on. To a large extent, theologians simply rely on scrip­ture to establish the tie. As Vedāntadeśika (13th cent.) puts it: "The auspicious lotus is to be seen as an important example of auspiciousness…this is stated in scripture: verses in the Viṣṇusmṛti and other works make it clear" (see Srivatsankacharyar, 1968, 132; trans. by author). Although Śrī is all-pervasive, latent in everything, she manifests herself only in auspicious places, and the lotus itself is considered to be the best exemplar of these qualities. 

This auspiciousness is found on two levels: as fertility, fecundity, and prosperity, on one level, and as connected with the path to enlightenment and liberation, on the other. Fertility is understood as abundance of crops, food, and progeny – all connected with creation and water. The connection of the lotus with water is enduring, and scholars and artists understand water both in archetypical and in literal ways: the waters of chaos from which creation emerges and the fetal waters from which a child is born. 

One of the earliest representations of Śrī-Lakṣmī is found in Buddhist architecture. H. Zimmer writes, "The goddess 'to whom the lotus is dear' (padmapriyā) is among the principal figures sculptured on the richly decorated gates and railings of the earliest Buddhist stupas – those of Sanchi and Bharhut (second and first centuries B.C.)…In Bharhut, she is shown in one of her classic poses. Out of a jar filled with water, the vessel of abundance, five lotus blossoms stem, two supporting a flanking pair of elephants" (Zimmer, 1974, 92). 

The generative functions associated with water and the lotus are also intrinsically connected with Brahmā, the creator god, who rises out of Viṣṇu’s navel. Viṣṇu, who is called Padmanābha (“He Whose Navel Is a Lotus”), floats on the ocean reclining on the serpent Ananta (sacred animals), and a lotus stalk rises from his navel. Brahmā abides in the lotus and begins his creation from this lotus. One account states it thus: "The Taittiriya Brahmana describes how Prajapati, desiring to evolve the universe, which was then fluid, saw a lotus-leaf, pushkaraparna, coming out of water. It is described that when divine life-substance was about to put forth the universe, the cosmic waters grew a thousand-petalled lotus flower of pure gold, radiant like the sun. This was considered to be a doorway, or an opening of the mouth of the womb of the universe…lotus is the first product of the creative principle" (Majupuria, 1989, 55–56). 

Thus, the cosmic lotus is the generative principle of the universe. And as such, the water-born lotus is a popular theme in temples: "The lotus mouldings, the water pot friezes and the vine scroll all serve to bind the base of the temple and to link it with water symbolism, thus rendering the ground fertile and the building potent. Lotuses, with or without sprouting foliage, abound in various forms in all the temples. Lotuses can also be shown as growing foliage, or, in a more abstract form, in a diamond and circle pattern. Small lotus ceilings also appear in temple halls" (Elgood, 1999, 115).

We see the prevalence of the lotus not only in architecture but also in sculpture. Works on iconography mention the lotus frequently as connected with many deities. For instance, Sūrya, the sun god, is supposed to carry two lotuses going up to his shoulders, and sometimes he is depicted with the hands on his hips holding lotus flowers (Gopinatha Rao, 1914, 48, 314). Several members of the twelve ādityas ( vedic gods) are to carry lotuses in their hands; Pūṣan, for example, is to have two lotuses. Other deities such as Brāhmaṇi and Vaiṣṇavī are to carry lotus flowers in their hands (Gopinatha Rao, 1914, 310, 384–385). Viṣṇu is traditionally depicted with lotus blossoms in his hands, and, in later years, the orb seen in one of his hands has been interpreted by some scholars as a lotus bud. In the case of Lajjā Gaurī, a historically well-known deity perhaps worshipped between the 2nd century BCE and the 11th century CE, a blossoming lotus replaces her head and neck. Her exact functions are unknown, but her legs are extended in parturition, exhibiting again the connection between the lotus and fecundity (Desai, 2013, 66, 84; Bolon, 1992, 70; Elgood, 2004, 335). 

Detachment 

Paradoxically enough, the lotus flower is a striking symbol both of fertility and of detachment, which rises above all earthly pursuits. Although the lotus is born in mud (paṅkaja), it nevertheless rises above the mire and slush and is radiant in its splendor. Further, the large leaves of the lotus plant seem hydrophobic, and water on it slides off the surface as if repelled by it. It is this observation that we find in Buddhist and Hindu texts. P. Harvey recounts a passage that frequently recurs in Buddhist texts and expounds the symbolic meaning of the lotus – a meaning that is shared with Hindu traditions. 

"Just as, monks, a lotus, blue, red or white, though born in the water, grown up in the water, when it reaches the surface stands there unsoiled by the water; just so, monks, though born in the world, grown up in the world, having overcome the world, a Tathagata abides unsoiled by the world…Just as the beautiful lotus blossom grows up from the mud and water, so one with an enlightened mind develops out of the ranks of ordinary beings, by maturing the spiritual potential latent in all" (Harvey, 1990, 73). This meaning as found on the second level of auspiciousness – the one of detachment, enlightenment, and liberation from the cycle of life and death ( saṃsāra ) – is also found in Bhagavadgītā 5.10, where it is said that one who performs his or her dharma without attachment and surrenders the fruits thereof to Kṛṣṇa is not touched by sin, just as a lotus leaf is not touched by water. 

Just as the lotus position (padmāsana) is used by practitioners of meditation and yoga , many deities are depicted in iconography as being seated on the lotus (Gopinatha Rao, 1914, 17). According to the texts that specify the rules of how these sculptures were to be made, every part of the lotus seat (padmāsana) had to be made in specified scales and proportions, and relate to another with a particular ratio. Moreover, the lotus seat has to be circular or oval, never rectangular (Gopinatha Rao, 1914, 20). 

The lotus is also associated with the cakras or centers of energy in some forms of yoga and Tantra. The cosmic lotus is said to be a flower with a thousand petals – the thousand symbolizing infinity – and is connected with the sahasrāracakra (the thousand-spoked cakra) in the crown of the head. When spiritual energies, variously named and described in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and in New Age movements, rise from the lower cakras and unite with the supreme consciousness, which is said to abide in the sahasrāracakra, one is said to experience enlightenment. The connection between the lotus flower and the cakra or the wheel/discus is seen in both meditational practices and material culture. Sometimes, when a cakra is represented in a stone or bronze icon, the spokes are carved like the petals of a full-blown lotus flower. 

H. Zimmer muses on the paradox between the lotus being the symbol of both generative forces and liberating practices in the Buddhist tradition: "Thus the ancient calyx of spontaneous procreative energy has been made to carry the symbol of the wisdom that transcends it, the wisdom that leads beyond the spell of Māyā. The lotus of the world supports the symbol of the enlightenment that dispels the darkness of the naive ignorance inherent in all living beings. The lotus symbol, which originally gives birth to beings and existence in unending succession, now carries the powerful wisdom of Nirvana: the Word that puts an end to all individualized existence whether in heaven or on earth" (Zimmer, 1974, 100). 

This persistence of the dual meaning of the lotus – as generative and creative, as well as being a presence in the world but not being of it – has been partly responsible for the enduring fascination that Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains have had with this flower over millennia. 

The Lotus and the Sun 

The lotus as an important symbol of both sacred and secular realms is captured well in literature and performing arts in the Hindu traditions. The relationship between (1) a human being and an earthly lover, (2) the human soul and the spiritual teacher, (3) the human soul and the deity, and (4) Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu are all represented as the relationship between the lotus flower and the sun. Just as the lotus blooms with the first rays of the sun, so do earthly or divine lovers blossom when they are together; so does the nascent soul come to life with the life-giving rays of the spiritual teacher or a gracious deity. Describing the analogy in the Rāmāyaṇa , C. Sivaramamurti says that the sun is "not only a majestic royal personality of great splendor but is also a loving nāyaka [lover] with an exceedingly delicate approach towards his beloved matepadminī, the lotus laden pool, where the flowers bloom and awake from their nocturnal slumber, just as the solar rays touch the warmth of the forearms of the lover caressing the slumbering spouse" (Rām. 4.30.29; quoted in Sivaramamurti, 1980, 6). 

Kālidāsa’s Kumārasambhava (1.32) also connects the lotus with the sun. The white and red lotus flowers are said to be devoted to the sun. Mayūra, a 7th-century poet, states in his Sūryaśaṭakathat "aroused by the rays of the sun as by the touch of the lover’s hands, the lotus damsel is astir, and the universe as well is animated, after darkness is destroyed at dawn" (SūŚaṭ. 17; paraphrased in Sivaramamurti, 1980, 6). And similarly, punning on the several names of the sun and lotus, and of Viṣṇu and Lakṣmī, he says that Padmā (“Lotus”; i.e. Lakṣmī) perfumes and enhances the splendor of the rising sun (SūŚaṭ. 92). These themes are frequently depicted in performing arts where several mudrās denote the various stages of a lotus flower in the act of blooming. 

As a symbol of fertility, a symbol of detachment, the abode of deities, the attribute of many gods and goddesses, and the national flower of India, the lotus is nowadays ubiquitous in the temples of the diaspora. It is also closely associated with the worldwide new religious movements of Hindu and Buddhist origin.