- The Malays strew this plant with reverence over the graves of their dead.
This flower was supposed to bloom in the garden of Indra, in Heaven, and the two wives of Krishna are said to have quarrelled for the exclusive possession of this flower, which their husband had stolen from the celestial garden. Since it was stolen by Krishna it has been under a curse, and dwells upon the earth as one of the least of the flowers, and is never used for worship. This accounts for its absence from the long catalogue of sacred flowers.
In the Hindu mythology, Kamadeva is the god of love, the analogue of Cupid, and is represented with his bow and arrows. The myth alleges that these arrows were tipped with five flowers, all of which are therefore held sacred to this god. They are (1) the champa (Michelia champaca), a tulip-shaped yellow flower, with a strong aromatic smell, of the magnolia family, supposed by some to have been introduced into India from China; (2) the mango flower (Mangifera indica); (3) the bulla (Pavonia odorata), a sweet-scented flower of the mallow family; (4) the flower of the clearing-nut (Strychnos potatorum); and (5) the nagkesur (Mesua ferrea), with flowers white externally, and yellow filaments inside the corolla, having an odour resembling that of the wild briar. Some other authorities exclude the clearing-nut flower, and substitute that of the bela (Jasminum sambac), with beautifully fragrant white flowers. The screw pine (Pandanus odoratissimus) is also, for some reason, sacred to Kamadeva. The pollen of the flowers is most profuse, and has a faint peculiar odour. It is collected, and sold at the bazaars, being scattered over the bride at marriage ceremonies. This custom seems partly to prevail on account of the odour, and partly on account of its mystic relationship to the god of love. Attar of Keora flowers and Keora water are favourite Indian perfumes.
The brilliant asoca (Saraca indica), with its large clusters of orange-red flowers, is dedicated to Siva, to whom also other and mostly yellow flowers are offered, such as the "chandra malika" (Chrysanthemum indicum), the cadamba, already alluded to, and the bakula, as well as the superb crimson flowers of the bandhuca (Ixora bandhuca), and the fragrant jasmines (Jasminum sambac and Jasminum undulatum), the gunda (Gardenia florida), oleander (Nerium odorum), and some others. It can be readily imagined that flowers, remarkable for their beauty, bright colouring, or fragrance, would present themselves to the minds of an oriental people as fitting tributes to be laid on the shrines of their gods. Such as do not conform to these features are usually connected in some manner with the history of the mythical being to whom they are sacred, or are supposed to retain in their flowers, fruits, or leaves, some mystical resemblance to well-known symbols of the attributes of the god to whom they are dedicated.
To avoid tedium we shall omit reference to all the remaining flowers, which are dedicated to members of the Hindu pantheon, with the exception of the water lilies, and these both in ancient India and ancient Egypt occupied a prominent place in mythology. The plants themselves were, in all probability, common to both countries nearly at the same time, and if we have come to the conclusion that the pre-eminence was given to one kind in India and to another in Egypt, this resulted probably from local circumstances and local traditions. The intimate relationship between the two has necessitated a parallel history of both, commencing with the Egyptian lotos to avoid repetition. The lotos (Nymphaea), writes Sir G. Wilkinson, was the favourite for wreaths and chaplets. But it is singular that, while the lotos is so often represented, no instance occurs on the monuments of the Indian lotos, or Nelumbium, though the Roman Egyptian sculptures point it out as a peculiar plant of Egypt, placing it about the figure of the god Nile; and it is stated by Latin writers to have been common in the country. The distinction between these two sacred plants will be better understood by a brief general description of both, so liable to confusion by applying the name of lotos in each instance.
- Wilkinson's "Popular Account of Ancient Egyptians," vol. i., p. 56.
The sacred lotos of the Nile figures conspicuously on the monuments, enters largely into the decoration, and seems to have been interwoven with the religious faith of the ancient Egyptians. This lotos is mentioned by the old writers as an herbaceous plant of aquatic habits, and from their combined description it is evident that some kind of water lily is intended. "When the river is full, and the plains are inundated, there grow in the water numbers of lilies which the Egyptians call lotos." "The lotos so-called, grows chiefly in the plains when the country is inundated. The flower is white, the petals are narrow, as those of the lily, and numerous, as of a very double flower. When the sun sets they cover the seed-vessel, and as soon as the sun rises the flowers open, and appear above the water; and this is repeated until the seed vessel is ripe and the petals fall off. It is said that in the Euphrates both the seed-vessel and the petals sink down into the water from the evening until midnight, to a great depth, so that the hand cannot reach them; at daybreak they emerge, and as the day comes on they rise above the water; at sunrise the flowers open, and when fully expanded they rise up still higher, and present the appearance of a very double flower." "The flower is small and white like the lily, which is said to expand at sunrise, and to close at sunset. It is also said that the seed-vessel is then entirely hid in the water, and that at sunrise it emerges again." "When the inundating waters of the Nile retire, it comes up with the stem like the Egyptian bean, with the petals crowded thick and close, only shorter and narrower. There is a further circumstance related concerning this plant of a very remarkable nature, that the poppy-like flowers close up with the setting sun, the petals entirely covering the seed vessel; but at sunrise they open again, and so on, till they become ripe, and the blossom, which is white, falls off." "They grow in the lakes in the neighbourhood of Alexandria. I know that in that fine city they have a crown called Antinéean, made of the plant which is there named lotos, which plant grows in the lakes in the heat of summer; and there are two colours of it: one of them is the colour of a rose, of which the Antinéean crown is made, the other is called lotinos, and has a blue flower." From the foregoing we arrive at the following particulars of the lotos. That it is an aquatic plant, with double poppy-like flowers, expanding in the morning and closing at night—
Those virgin lilies all the night Bathing their beauties in the lake, That they may rise more fresh and bright When their beloved sun’s awake.
Fig. 84.—Egyptian Lotus (Nymphaea stellata).
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Either white, blue, or rose-coloured, for there are the latter two varieties, as expressly mentioned by one author. All these features are quite consistent with the presumption that the lotos was of a kindred to our own white water lily, which is further strengthened by what is recorded of the fruit. "The size of the seed-vessel is equal to that of the largest poppy head, and it is divided by separations in the same manner as the seed-vessel of the poppy, but the seed, which is like millet, is more condensed. The Egyptians lay these seed-vessels in heaps to perish, and when they are rotten, the mass is washed in the river, and the seed taken out and dried, and is afterwards made into loaves, baked, and used for food." In the principal features, all the other authorities agree. The fruit, therefore, corresponds with that of a water lily, and, moreover, it is said to possess a farinaceous root, which was eaten. From these descriptions it is evident, as more fully discussed elsewhere, that the sacred lotos of the Nile was a species of Nymphaea, or water lily, common in the waters of that river. When Savigny returned from Egypt after the French invasion of 1798, he brought home a blue Nymphaea, which corresponds closely in habit to the conventional lotos so common on Egyptian monuments.
- Theophrastus.
- Dioscorides.
- Pliny.
- Athenaeus.
- M. C. Cooke on the "Lotus of the Ancients," in "Popular Science Review," vol. x. (1871), p. 260.
It seems very probable that the lotos-flower, which is represented in the hands of guests at Egyptian banquets (fig. 85), and those presented as offerings to the deities, were fragrant. The manner in which they are held strengthens this probability, as there is no other reason why they should be brought into such close proximity to the nose. Savigny's blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea) has just the habit and the narrow acute petals of the lotos on the monuments. The white lotos was evidently Nymphaea lotus, which is common to India and Egypt. Like others of its kindred, it is liable to variation, and there is a red variety, which some have called a distinct species, but Roxburgh has declared that he could see no difference between them except the colour of the flowers. The blue lotos of Savigny, which he called Nymphaea caerulea, seems to be the Nymphaea stellata of modern botanists. Messrs. Hooker and Thomson have pronounced the opinion that "the blue water lily of the Nile and India are (like their white congener N. lotus) specifically the same, the most prominent difference to be found between them being the sweet scent of the African plant, and its usually more numerous petals and stamens." The fragrant blue lotos seems to be the most common one represented on the monuments, but the white one is chiefly alluded to by ancient authors.
Fig. 85.—Lady with lotus flower, from Theban tomb (Wilkinson).
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The tamara, or lotos of India, was described by ancient authors under the name of kyamos, or Egyptian bean. These descriptions are so substantial that there is not the slightest doubt of the plant being the Nelumbium speciosum. Nothing can be more explicit than the account given by Theophrastus. He says that "it is produced in marshes and in stagnant waters, the length of the stem, at the longest, four cubits, and the thickness of a finger, like the smooth jointless reed. The inner texture of the stem is perforated throughout like a honeycomb, and upon the top of it is a poppy-like seed-vessel, in circumference and appearance like a wasp's nest. In each of the cells there is a bean projecting a little above the surface of the seed-vessel, which usually contains about thirty of these beans or seeds. The flower is twice the size of a poppy, of the colour of a full-blown rose, and elevated above the water; about each flower are produced large leaves, of the size of a Thessalian hat, having the same kind of stem as the flower-stem. In each bean, when broken, may be seen the embryo plant, out of which the leaf grows. So much for the fruit. The root is thicker than the thickest reed, and cellular, like the stem; and those who live about the marshes eat it as food, either raw, boiled, or roasted. These plants are produced spontaneously, but they are cultivated in beds," &c.