Historical. j 



Nymphaea stellata is alluded to in the same poem (p. 15) thus 



" thoughtlessly attempts 



To cleave in twain the hard acacia's stem 

 With the soft edge of a blue lotus leaf." 



Graceful and appreciative as are these literary references, and many- 

 such might be added, they cannot be regarded as having any religious 

 significance. The Sanskrit words utpala and kantala for the blue lotus 

 (N stellata), kumuda the white night lotus (N. lotus) and pundarika white 

 lotus flower, so far as we know, have no religious associations (Macdowell, 

 Elwell, Lanman). Williams (p. 5, notes) states very pertinently that the 

 lotus " is as favorite a subject of allusion and comparison with Hindu 

 poets as the rose is with Persian." 



On the other hand, it is stated in an early number of the " Botanical 

 Magazine" (1805) that when a Hindu once entered the study of Sir 

 William Jones where a flower of Nymphaea lotus chanced to lie for ex- 

 amination, he " made prostrations before it " as though this were an act of 

 piety. This reverence is further said to " pervade Hindostan, Tibet and 

 Nepal." Tratinnick (1822) considers the same species to be the sacred 

 lotus of India, without giving evidence. Pickering (1879) records that 

 N. stellata is said to be " distinctly figured in the cave-temples of Adjunta," 

 and that he himself saw it figured in Braminical cave-temples elsewhere 

 in India. Nymphaea mbra appears as the " autumn lotus " in Dhamma- 

 pada, 285, according to Pickering, and he thinks that this species may be 

 the padma of the Hitopadesa and Vetala panchavinsati I ; Graham is quoted 

 as having observed it around Bombay, " in tanks, particularly in the 

 neighborhood of caves or temples." But to the writer, none of these 

 records present any certain evidence of the religious importance of 

 Nymphaeas in India. The account in the " Botanical Magazine " is the 

 most suggestive, but is by no means conclusive, and the use of the flowers 

 as decorative designs for temples indicates no more than an appreciation 

 of their beauty. The presence of the plants themselves " especially 

 near temples," if the observation is trustworthy, may be explained both 

 by the beauty of the flowers and the food-value of seeds and tubers. 

 In the absence, therefore, of any direct evidence that waterlilies are 

 regarded as sacred in India, I believe we have no sufficient reason for 

 attributing this regard to them. 



