232 THE LOTUS OF THE GOOD LAW 



resurrection, the emblem of Siva, the Destroyer 

 and Preserver. On a Lotus the Good Law 

 floated to Java, and its flowering can be seen to 

 this day at Borobudur. It was carried south 

 to Cambodia, and Angkor Vat is still the largest 

 temple in the world. Northwards and eastwards 

 the Sacred Lotus journeyed, and the wind and 

 the covering sand followed in its wake ; so that 

 the road was well-nigh forgotten when Sir Aurel 

 Stein found the frescoes of Vishnu's dark blue 

 flowers, and the little garden buried in the waste. 

 Farther and farther the flower travelled till China 

 and Japan owned its sway, and India, the home 

 of the lotus, the land of Buddha and of Rama, 

 is still the Holy Land of all the Further East. 



The Indian flora, so unlike that of Central 

 Asia, together with the difference of climate, 

 gave a very distinctive character to the Hindu 

 and Buddhist garden. Strange as it may seem, 

 there are few wild flowers found growing in the 

 Indian plains ; for there, even in winter, the 

 fierce sun burns into the soil. But the flower 

 patches of the northern hills and meadows are 

 replaced by deep-rooted blossoming trees, and 

 these make up to some extent for the absence 

 of the smaller herbaceous plants. Their leafless 



