Lotus. 
216 
Poor L. E. L. founded one of her passionate lyrics on this 
fable. She represented the youthful deity as 
“ Seated on a lotus-flower, 
Gathered in a summer hour; 
***** 
Grasping in his infant hand 
Arrows in their silken band, 
Each made of a signal flower, 
Emblem of its varied power.” 
This lily is thus introduced in the “Sacontala,” in reference 
to the art of palmistry, or chirognomy, as practised by the 
Brahmin priesthood. “ What! ” exclaims a predictive Brah¬ 
min, “ the very palm of his hand bears the mark of empire, 
and while he thus eagerly extends it, shows its lines of exqui¬ 
site network, and grows like a lotus expanded at early dawn, 
when the ruddy splendour of its petals hides all other tints in 
obscurity.” 
The use of the lotus’ elegant form in decorative architec¬ 
ture was spoken of above, and one of our authorities thus 
confirms the fact: “ This is the sublime, the hallowed symbol 
that eternally occurs in Oriental mythology; and, in truth, 
not without substantial reason, for it is itself a lovely prodigy: 
it contains a treasure of physical instruction, and affords to the 
enraptured botanist exhaustless matter of amusement and 
contemplation. No wonder, then, that the philosophizing sons 
of Mizraim adorned their majestic structures with the spread¬ 
ing tendrils of this vegetable, and made the ample-extending 
vase that crowns its lofty stem the capital of the most beau¬ 
tiful columns.” 
The sacred images of the Indians, Japanese, and Tartars are 
almost invariably represented as seated upon the leaves of the 
lotus, as is also the Chinese deity, Puzza. 
The Egyptian divinity Osiris is likewise portrayed with his 
head decorated with this sacred flower; indeed, the same 
symbol is found recurring in every part of the Northern hemi¬ 
sphere to which symbolic religion has penetrated. 
The courtiers of the Plmperor Adrian endeavoured to per¬ 
suade him that his deceased favourite Antinous had been 
m itamorphosed into a lotus ; but the Roman sovereign, who 
erected a temple to his youthful friend’s memory, wished it to 
