_Universal Love of Flowers--Indifference to Flowers--Excessive Love
of Flowers leading to Adoration--Myths and Legends connected with
Flowers, the Flos Adonis, Narcissus, Myrtle, Silene inflata,
Clover--The Hundred-leaved Rose--The Worship of the Lily Species--
Signification of the Lotos--Hermaphroditic Character of the Lotos--
The Indian Mutiny of 1857, part played by the Lotos during its
Instigation._
"Why?" asked a writer some years ago, "why is it that every eye kindles
with delight at the sight of beautiful flowers? that in all lands, and
amidst all nations, the love of flowers appears to prevail to so great an
extent, that no home is considered complete without them--no festival duly
honoured unless they decorate the place where it is observed? They are
strewn in the path of the bride; they are laid on the bier of the dead;
the merry-maker selects from the floral tribes the emblem of his joy; and
the mourner the insignia of his grief. Everywhere and under all
circumstances, flowers are eagerly sought after and affectionately
cherished; and when the living and growing are not to be obtained, then is
their place filled by some substitute or other, according to the
circumstances or taste of the wearer; but whether that substitute be a
wreath of gorgeous gems for the brow of royalty, or a bunch of coloured
cambric for the adornment of a servant girl, it is usually wrought into
the form of flowers.
"This taste depends not on wealth or on education, but is given, if not to
all individuals, yet to some of every class. From the infant's first gleam
of intelligence, a flower will suffice to still its cries; and even in old
age the mind which has not been perverted from its natural instincts, can
find a calm and soothing pleasure in the contemplation of these gems of
creation."
A man, reputed wise, was once asked in a garden: "do you like flowers?"
"No," said he; "I seldom find time to descend to the little things." "This
man," said an American writer, "betrayed a descent, in his speech, to the
pithole of ignorance. Flowers, sweet flowers! he that loves them not
should be classed with the man that hath not music in his soul, as a
dangerous member of the community."
Instead of _not liking_ or _not caring_, leaving out, _not loving_
flowers, the general tendency with humanity has been to run to an opposite
extreme and render them not merely estimation, care or love, but
veneration and worship.
The adoration of flowers is one of the most ancient systems of worship
with which we are acquainted. It can be traced back for ages amongst the
Hindus, who believing that the human soul is a spark or emanation from the
Great Supreme, held that this essence can only be renovated in man by a
communion with his works; it is found amongst the Chinese, it occupied a
most important position in the mysteries of Egyptian idolatry, it figures
prominently on the past and present monuments of Mexico, and to some
extent prevailed in Europe. Naturally enough, it arose in the warmer
regions of the earth, where the vegetable productions of the tropics are
so much more gorgeous in their colouring and noble in their growth, and in
those regions it still lingers, after having been swept away in other
lands before the advance of education and a more intellectual religion.
It would be interesting did space allow to enumerate some of the myths and
legends connected with flowers, but as we have another object in view
these must be allowed to pass with a mere cursory allusion. There is the
Flos Adonis which perpetuates the memory of Venus's favourite, Adonis, the
son of Myrrha, who was herself said to be turned into a tree called myrrh.
Adonis had often been warned by Venus not to hunt wild beasts; but
disregarding her advice, he was at last killed by a wild boar and was then
changed by his mistress into this flower. There was Narcissus, too,
destroying himself in trying to grasp his form when reflected in the water
by whose margin he was reclining. Then we have Myrtillus and the Myrtle.
The father of Hippodamia declared that no one should marry his daughter
who could not conquer him in a chariot race; and one of the lovers of the
young lady bribed Myrtillus, who was an attendant of Oenomaüs, to take
out the linchpin from his master's chariot, by which means the master was
killed; and Myrtillus, repenting when he saw him dead, cast himself into
the sea, and was afterwards changed by Mercury into the myrtle.
A bladder campion (Silene inflata) is another curiosity. Ancient writers
say that it was formerly a youth named Campion, whom Minerva employed to
catch flies for her owls to eat during the day, when their eyes did not
serve them to catch food for themselves; but Campion indulging himself
with a nap when he ought to have been busy at his task, the angry goddess
changed him into this flower, which still retains in its form the bladders
in which Campion kept his flies, and droops its head at night when owls
fly abroad and have their eyes about them.
The common clover which was much used in ancient Greek festivals, was
regarded by the Germans as sacred, chiefly in its four leaved variety.
There is indeed, in the vicinity of Altenburg, a superstition that if a
farmer takes home with him a handful of clover taken from each of the four
corners of his neighbour's field it will go well with his cattle during
the whole year; but the normal belief is that the four-leaved clover, on
account of its cross form, is endowed with magical virtues. The general
form of the superstition is that one who carries it about with him will be
successful at play, and will be able to detect the proximity of evil
spirits. In Bohemia it is said that if the maiden manages to put it into
the shoe of her lover without knowledge when he is going on any journey,
he will be sure to return to her faithfully and safely. In the Tyrol the
lover puts it under the pillow to dream of the beloved. On Christmas Eve,
especially, one who has it may see witches. Plucked with a gloved hand and
taken into the house of a lunatic without anyone else perceiving it, it is
said to cure madness. In Ireland also it is deemed sacred and has been
immortalized in Lover's beautiful song as a safeguard against every
imaginable kind of sorrow and misfortune.
It was a belief among the Jews, according to Zoroaster says Howitt, that
every flower is appropriated to a particular angel, and that the
hundred-leaved rose is consecrated to an archangel of the highest order.
The same author relates that the Persian fire-worshippers believe that
Abraham was thrown into a furnace by Nimrod, and the flames forthwith
turned into a bed of roses.
In contradistinction to this in sentiment is the belief of the Turk, who
holds that this lovely flower springs from the perspiration of Mohammed,
and, in accordance with this creed, they never tread upon it or suffer one
to lie upon the ground.
"Of shrub or flower worship, the most important in the east and south has
been that of the lily species. The lily of October--the saffron--was very
sacred to the Karnean, or horned Apollo--that is, the sun--for horns
usually stand for rays of glory, as in the case of the horned Moses of our
poets, artists and ecclesiastics, who make him like an Apis of Egypt,
because of the text which says, 'his face shone' when he came down from
the mountain. All lilies have more or less to do with the female or
fecundating energies, and so even in Europe we have many stories of the
crocus species, because it is said 'of their irradiating light, having
peculiar looking bells, three-headed and crested capillaments, three
cells, and reddish seeds,' &c.
"The Lotus is the seat of most deities, but notably so of the creator
Brahma, who, thus enthroned, is called the _Kamal-a-yoni_, or the great
androgynous god. The lotus is the womb of all creation. It is said to
originate from the great fertiliser, water, alone; and dropping its great
leaves on this fertiliser as on a bed, it springs upwards with a slender,
elegant stalk, and spreads forth in a lovely flower. Even the grave and
mighty Vishnoo delights in the lotus, which is one of the four emblems he
holds in his fourfold arms. It is Venus' sacred flower.
"The flower is shaped like a boat, is a representation of divinity, and is
shown as springing from the navel of the great god resting on his milky
sea. It always signifies fecundation. Inman, under the head Nabhi, navel,
says--'The germ is "Meroo" (the highest pinnacle of the earth), the petals
and filaments are the mountains which encircle Meroo, a type of the Yoni,'
and Sanscrit for _mons veneris_. Amongst fourteen kinds of fruit and
flowers which must be presented to 'Ananta' (Sanskrit, eternity), the
lotus is the only indispensable one, as he (Ananta) is then worshipped in
the form of a mighty serpent with seven heads.
"Hindoo and other writers often tell us that the lotus originated the idea
of the triangle, which is 'the first of perfect figures, for two lines are
an imperfection,' and the lotus also gives us a circle on a triangle which
is full of cells and seed, and so is more perfect still. Siva is, as
Orientals know, '_the god of the triangle_,' and hence, in his palace in
_Kailasa_ we are told the most precious object 'on his table of nine
precious stones is the padma (lotus), carrying in its bosom the triangle,
as origin and source of all things;' and that from 'this triangle issues
the Lingam, the eternal god who makes in it his eternal dwelling;' which,
however, is not quite correct on the part of M. Guigniant, whom Mr. Barlow
quotes. The lotus is an inverted triangle, and is therefore the female
sign; the pyramid or triangle on base is Siva, or the _Ray of Light_, the
sun-god.
"Another reason why the lotus is in all lands so sacred is its androgynous
or hermaphrodite character, a feature imperative in the case of all the
great gods of man, though this is not very clear if we dive deeply below
the surface, either in the case of the Jewish Elohim or the lotus. Brahma,
the creator, whilst sitting on the lotus, as all great gods do, desired,
says the 'Hindoo Inspired Word,' to create the universe, and for this
purpose, became androgynous, or a breathing-spirit (Ruach?)--prakriti or
nature; when creation at once commenced and progressed, much as we have it
in the genesis of most faiths. The details of this mystic plant have much
exercised all Asiatic and Egyptian minds. In its circular stamina it shows
two equilateral triangles placed across each other, which Sanskritists
call the _shristi-chakra_, also sixteen petals called the _shoodasa_; and
this, it is held, is a revelation from the deity as to the proper age for
the representative woman or prakriti, in the Sakti ceremonies. These
triangles, with apex upwards and downwards, are _the chapel_ or magic
diagram which the pious are told to ponder over, for it has many
significations and possesses numerous spells; and hence we see it
venerated in all early ages, and still an important article of
Freemasonry. The spells go by the name of the _devi-chakrams_, or godesses
of circles, no doubt having a solar signification.
"The _Padma_ and _Kamalata_ or _Granter-of-Desires_, or
'Consummator-of-our-Wishes,' are all terms applied to the lotus. It is the
symbol of Venus or Lakshmi, or of her incarnation--Krishna's wife, Padha,
who is commonly a nude Venus or Sakti. It is also called '_love's
creeper_,' the throne and ark of the gods, and the water-born one. One
author writes, that from far Thibet to Ceylon, and over every eastern
land and islet, the holy Padma is only a little less sacred than the Queen
of Heaven--Juno (I Oni) herself. It is as mysterious as the Yoni--is, like
it, the flower of concealment, of night and of silence, and that
mysteriousness of generation and reproduction; it is described as a sort
of incomprehensible dualism which veils the Almighty One and his mysteries
from our minds. Linnæus tells us it is the _Nelumbo_, but R. Payne Knight
is clearer when he writes to this effect. The flowers of the lotus contain
a seed vessel shaped like an inverted _cone or bell_, which are very holy
symbols with all peoples, and representative male and female. This
inverted bell is punctuated on the top with little cavities or cells in
which the seeds grow as in a matrix fed by the parent plant till they
arrive at such a size as to break open 'the ark boat of life.' They then
emerge and float away, taking root wherever they find ground, and throwing
down long tentacles or tendrills in quest of it. The idea is expressed by
Brahma in his address to the angels, as given in the _Linga-Pooran_,
beginning: 'When I sprang into existence, I beheld the mighty Narayana
reposing on the abyss of waters;' which reminds us of the Jewish
Elohim-god who it is said generated all things 'by brooding o'er the
deep.'"[18]
Those who remember the Indian mutiny of the year 1867 and the long tale of
horrors which overwhelmed the British dominions with grief, dismay and
indignation, will be interested by the information that the conspiracy was
first manifested by the circulation of symbols in the forms of cakes and
lotus flowers. Commenting upon this, a writer in "Household Words," of
September, 1857, said, after he had given a description and historical
account of the flower: I fear I may have indulged in too long an excursion
into the realms of botany to suit the reader, who merely wishes to know
why the Indian rebels choose lotus flowers as symbols of cospiracy. I am
sure I am as innocent of the knowledge as of the rebellion, but I will try
to help my readers to a guess. Four-fifths of the human species worship a
God-woman; and the vestiges of this worship are found in the most ancient
monuments, documents and traditions, stretching backwards into the past
eternity from millenium to millenium, towards an epoch beyond the records
of the Deluge, and almost coeval with the loss of Eden. The Tentyrian
planisphere of the ancient Egyptians represents the virgin and child
rising out of a lotus flower. The Egyptian hieroglyphics depict the
goddess Asteria, or Justice, issuing out of a lotus, and seating herself
upon the centre of the beam of Libra, or the Scales. Pictorial
delineations of the judgment of the dead, represent Osiris as Ameuti,
swathed in the white garments of the grave, girt with a red girdle, and
seated upon a chequered throne of white and black spots, or good and evil.
Before him are the vase of nectar, the table of ambrosia, the great
serpent, and the lotus of knowledge--the emblems of Paradise. There are
Egyptian altar-pieces upon which the lotus figures as the tree of life.
The Hindu priests say that the lotus rising out of the lakes is the type
of the world issuing out of the ocean of time.
Travellers who have observed the worship of the Hindus and Parsees, tell
us that they give religious honours to the lotus. The Budhist priests
cultivate it in precious vases, and place it in their temples. The Chinese
poets celebrate the sacred bean of India, out of which their god Amida and
her child arose, in the middle of a lake. We can be at no loss to imagine
the appearance of the Budhist pagodas, for our Gothic cathedrals are just
those pagodas imitated in stone. Their pillars copy the trunks of the
palm-trees and the effects of the creeping plants of the pagodas; their
heaven piercing spires are the golden spathes of palm flowers, and the
stained glass reproduces, feebly, the many brilliances of the tropical
skies. Every pious Buddist, giving himself up to devout meditations,
repeats as often as he can, the words "On ma ni bat mo Klom." When many
worshippers are kneeling and repeating the sound, the effect is like
counter-bass or the humming of bees; and profound sighs mingle with the
repetitions. The Mongolian priests say these words are endowed with
mysterious and supernatural powers; they increase the virtues of the
faithful; they bring them nearer to divine protection, and they exempt
them from the pains of the future life. When the priests are asked to
explain the words, they say volumes would be required to tell all their
meanings. Klaproth, however, says that the formula is nothing but a
corruption of four Hindu words, "Om man'i padma houm," signifying "Oh!
precious lotus!" Without pretending that the volume of the Hindu fakirs on
the signification of the lotus, might not throw more light upon the use of
it as a symbol of conspiracy, there are hints enough in the facts I have
stated to warrant the conclusion that it serves as a sign of a great and
general rising on behalf of Budhism. The flower was circulated to rally
the votaries of the goddess of the lotus.