KASHMIR LOTUS FIELDS 177 



Lotus time comes in July, when the great 

 flowers and leaves rise on their slender stalks 

 three or four feet from the surface of the lake. 

 They may be taken as the Hindu sacred flower, 

 much as the rose is the first flower in the eyes of 

 the secular Moslem poets ; and all the world goes 

 out to gaze on the bright pink lotus blooms. To 

 see these flowers in perfection one must start at 

 dawn, before the sun has climbed the mountain 

 crags, and row out towards the Nishat Bagh, 

 where the lake-side gardens are lost in dim blue 

 shadows and the surface of the water is pearly 

 grey and mauve. Then forcing the light shikara 

 through the sweeping freshness of the large 

 leaves until the boat is almost lost among them, 

 wait till the sun wakes the lotus buds of Brahma. 

 As their rose-dyed petal tips disclose the golden 

 heart you will know why aum, mani padme 

 HUM (" Hail, Lord Creator ! the Jewel is in 

 the Lotus ") is the oldest and most sacred prayer 

 in India. 



High up in a hollow of the mountains which 

 overlook the lotus fields of the Dal Lake is the 

 Chasma Shahi, the little Garden of the Royal 

 Spring. Very few of these smaller pleasure- 

 grounds have survived, but the Chasma Shahi 



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