LOTUS
According to Hindu mythological tale, when the reverent Lord Ram prayed before the goddess to bestow upon him her divine blessing, she had imposed a condition upon her devotee-that he should worship her with no less than one hundred and eight lotus flowers (one hundred and eight is an auspicious number in the Hindu-mythology). However, Lord Ram after much effort and search, could come up with only one less than the number desired at such a critical moment, he recalled that his beautiful eyes were often called ‘lotus-eyes’ (as beautiful as a lotus). The true devotee therefore, unhesitatingly took out his dagger and was just about to plunge it into his eye-socket to offer his eye instead of the missing lotus – when the goddess appeared and told him that the entire task had been a hard way of testing the depth of his devotion and prayer.
The lotus is so highly venerated as a plant that it appears symbolically in architecture, paintings, and held by Egyptian mummies. The Egyptians themselves grew three species of lotus-one blue – flower, one white and one red.
In the Greek legends and tales, the lotus-flower is sacred and venerated. It is a symbol of beauty. Again, in the Hindu tradition, as stated before, many a legend revolves around the presence of the lotus. A golden lotus bears the god Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
The lotus is used as a symbol for the Buddhists since many depictions of Lord Buddha include a lotus situated either near or under him, and is therefore intimately associated with Buddha both in India and in China. It is the emblem of paradise; it is sign of the heavenly abode in Japan. In fact, in its different incarnations, it represents the spirituality of a large area of the world.
In precise scientific terms, the lotus is an Egyptian or Indian water lily of various species of Nymphaea and the Nelumbium. Interesting stories are connected with this flower, apart from its varied religious associations. The lotusis often regarded in literature as the plant, (possibly the jujube) in North Africa, whose fruit induced in the eater a state of blissful indolence and forgetfulness. These eaters, or as they were termed, the lotus – eaters find mention in Jennyson’s poem ‘the Lotus – Eaters’. Burning the wide and adventurous journey undertaken by the Greek hero Ulysses while returning back to his kingdom in Ithaca, he had encountered this strange land and race of the Lotus- Eaters, for whom the Epicurean philosophy of ‘Eat, drink and be merry’ was the mantra for their existence.
However, the language of flowers, as tokens indicating a special feeling or emotion- well, according to this flower- symbolism, the lotus stands as a sign of estranged love –lovers who have parted, either due to hostile circumstances or due to internal friction.
Related Flowers : Eryngiums or Thistles Flowers Cyclamens Flowers Eucharis Flowers Cypress Flowers Euphorbias Fulgens Flowers Dahlias Flowers Forsythias Flowers Daisy daises Flowers Freesias Flowers Dandelions Flowers
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