The double sex typified by the Argha and its contents is by the Hindus
represented by the “Mymphœa” or Lotus, floating like a boat on the
boundless ocean, where the whole plant signifies both the earth and the
two principles of its fecundation. The germ is both Meru and the Linga;
the petals and filaments are the mountains which encircle Meru, and are
also a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the calyx are the four vast
regions to the cardinal points of Meru; and the leaves of the plant are
the Dwipas or isles round the land of Jambu. As this plant or lily was
probably the most celebrated of all the vegetable creation among the
mystics of the ancient world, and is to be found in thousands of the
most beautiful and sacred paintings of the Christians of this day—I
detain my reader with a few observations respecting it. This is the more
necessary as it appears that the priests have now lost the meaning of
it; at least this is the case with everyone of whom I have made enquiry;
but it is like many other very odd things, probably understood in the
Vatican, or the crypt of St. Peter’s. Maurice says that among the
different plants which ornament our globe, there is not one which has
received so much honour from man as the Lotus or Lily, in whose
consecrated bosom Brahma was born, and Osiris delighted to float. This
is the sublime, the hallowed symbol that eternally occurs in oriental
mythology, and in truth not without reason, for it is itself a lovely
prodigy. Throughout all the northern hemispheres it was everywhere held
in profound veneration, and from Savary we learn that the veneration is
yet continued among the modern Egyptians. And we find that it still
continues to receive the respect if not the adoration of a great part of
the Christian world, unconscious, perhaps, of the original reason of
this conduct. _Higgins’s Anacalypsis._
The following is an account given of it by Payne Knight, in his curious
dissertation on Phallic Worship:—“The Lotus is the Nelumbo of Linnæus.
This plant grows in the water, among its broad leaves puts forth a
flower, in the centre of which is formed the seed vessel, shaped like a
bell or inverted cone, and perforated on the top with little cavities or
cells, in which the seeds grow. The orifices of these cells being too
small to let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot forth into new
plants in the places where they are formed: the bulb of the vessel
serving as a matrix to nourish them, until they acquire such a degree of
magnitude as to burst it open and release themselves, after which, like
other aquatic weeds, they take root wherever the current deposits them.
This plant, therefore, being thus productive of itself, and vegetating
from its own matrix, without being fostered in the earth, was naturally
adopted as the symbol of the productive power of the waters, upon which
the active spirit of the Creator operated in giving life and vegetation,
to matter. We accordingly find it employed in every part of the northern
hemisphere, where the symbolical religion, _improperly called idolatry_,
does or ever did prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese,
and Indians are almost placed upon it, of which numerous instances occur
in the publications of Kœmpfer, Sonnerat, etc. The Brahma of India is
represented as sitting upon his Lotus throne, and the figure upon the
Isaaic table holds the stem of this plant surmounted by the seed vessel
in one hand, and the Cross representing the male organs of generation in
the other; thus signifying the universal power, both active and passive,
attributed to that goddess.”
Nimrod says:—“The Lotus is a well-known allegory, of which the expansive
calyx represents the ship of the gods floating on the surface of the
water; and the erect flower arising out of it, the mast thereof. The one
was the galley or cockboat, and the other the mast of cockayne; but as
the ship was Isis or Magna Mater, the female principle, and the mast in
it the male deity, these parts of the flower came to have certain other
significations, which seem to have been as well known at Samosata as at
Benares. This plant was also used in the sacred offices of the Jewish
religion. In the ornaments of the temple of Solomon, the Lotus or lily
is often seen.”
The figure of Isis is frequently represented holding the stem of the
plant in one hand, and the cross and circle in the other. Columns and
capitals resembling the plant are still existing among the ruins of
Thebes, in Egypt, and the island of Philœ. The Chinese goddess, Pussa,
is represented sitting upon the Lotus, called in that country Lin, with
many arms, having symbols signifying the various operations of nature,
while similar attributes are expressed in the Scandinavian goddess Isa
or Disa.
The Lotus is also a prominent symbol in Hindu and Egyptian cosmogony.
This plant appears to have the same tendency with the Sphinx, of marking
the connection between that which produces and that which is produced.
The Egyptian Ceres (Virgo) bears in her hand the blue Lotus, which plant
is acknowledged to be the emblem of celestial love so frequently seen
mounted on the back of Leo in the ancient remains. The following is a
translation of the Purana relating to the cosmogony of the Hindus, and
will be found interesting as showing the importance attached to the
Lotus in the worship of the ancients:—“We find Brahma emerging from the
Lotus. The whole universe was dark and covered with water. On this
primeval water did Bhagavat (God), in a masculine form, repose for the
space of one Calpho (a thousand years); after which period the intention
of creating other beings for his own wise purposes became predominant in
the mind of the _Great Creator_. In the first place, by his sovereign
will was produced the flower of the Lotus, afterwards, by the same will,
was brought to light the form of Brahma from the said flower; Brahma,
emerging from the cup of the Lotus, looked round on all the four sides,
and beheld from the eyes of his four heads an immeasurable expanse of
water. Observing the whole world thus involved in darkness and submerged
in water, he was stricken with prodigious amazement, and began to
consider with himself, ‘Who is it that produced me?’ ‘whence came I?’
‘and where am I?’
“Brahma, thus kept two hundred years in contemplation, prayers, and
devotions, and having pondered in his mind that without connection of
male and female an abundant generation could not be effected—again
entered into profound meditation on the power of the Supreme, when, on a
sudden by the omnipotence of God, was produced from his right side
_Swayambhuvah Menu_, a man of perfect beauty; and from the Brahma’s left
side a woman named _Satarupa_. The prayer of Brahma runs thus:—‘O
Bhagavat! since thou broughtest me from nonentity into existence for a
particular purpose, accomplish by thy benevolence that purpose.’ In a
short time a small white boar appeared, which soon grew to the size of
an elephant. He now felt God in all, and that all is from Him, and all
in Him. At length the power of the Omnipotent had assumed the body of
_Vara_. He began to use the instinct of that animal. Having divided the
water, he saw the earth a mighty barren stratum. He then took up the
mighty ponderous globe (freed from the water) and spread the earth like
a carpet on the face of the water; Brahma, contemplating the whole
earth, performed due reverence, and rejoicing exceedingly, began to
consider the means of peopling the renovated world.” _Pyag_, now
Allahabad, was the first land said to have appeared, but with the
Brahmins it is a disputed point, for many affirm that _Casi_ or Benares
was the sacred ground.