The lotus is an Asian water lily known for the delicate beauty of its water flowers. It possesses an amazing ability to flourish in a variety of environments ranging from clear ponds to muddy marshes.
The East Indian lotus, N. nucifera, found in southern Asia, was introduced into Egypt about 2,500 years ago but is no longer found in the Nile region. The Buddhists of India, Tibet, and China consider its flowers sacred
The lotus is seen everywhere in ancient Egyptian tombs and temples, often held in the hands of gods and royalty.
In Three Hares of the Silk Road, we saw how this mysterious hares’ motif appeared first in the Buddhist shrines of the Mogao Caves in China, first constructed in 366 CE.
Right: Apex of the ceiling of Cave 407 at Dunhuang, showing a trio of hares inside a lotus motif.
Typically, the circle of hares is surrounded by eight large lotus petals and forms the focal point of a large painted canopy covering the entire ceiling.
In China, there are many poems about the lotus flower, often describing how they come out of the dirty mud under the water and yet retain their pureness, freshness and beauty. In Buddhism, lotus flowers mean purity of speech, mind and body rising above the waters of desire and attachment.
From ancient times the lotus has been considered to be a sacred symbol in Asian traditions representing sexual purity.
The Buddhists consider the Lotus Flower to be sacred and auspicious as the flower stands for faithfulness in their religion. The lotus plant has also been cited as a sacred flower extensively in the ancient Puranic and Vedic literature.
Hindus relate it to their Almighty, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi and Sarasvati who are often depicted sitting upon this pious flower. As Lotus also stands as the symbol of divine beauty, it is used as a symbol to describe the beauty of Lord Vishnu by referring him as the ‘Lotus-Eyed One’.
Left: a painting of Vishnu seated on a lotus.
Thought to be linked with an earlier sun god, Vishnu’s ten incarnations may also be examples of older gods that have been amalgamated. In sculpture the standing Vishnu is dressed in royal garments and holds in his four, sometimes two, hands the sankha (conch), cakra (discus), gada (mace), or padma (lotus). The discus is thought to represent the sun. Vishnu, like Shiva, was originally a minor deity with only five out to 1,028 hymns in the Rig Veda addressed to him. He seems to have been derived from a solar deity. The discuss is a vestige of his solar origins.
We may therefore see Vishnu as a Hindu Helios and a reflection of solar worship from a more ancient India.
The lotus (Sanskrit and Tibetan padma) is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols and one of the most poignant representations of Buddhist teaching.
Right: Gandharan bronze seated image of Buddha seated on a lotus throne
The lotus is one of Buddhism’s best recognized motifs and appears in all kinds of Buddhist art across all Buddhist cultures. Scrolling lotuses often embellish Buddhist textiles, ceramics and architecture.
Every important Buddhist deity is associated in some manner with the lotus, either being seated upon a lotus in full bloom or holding one in their hands. In some images of standing Buddhas, each foot rests on a separate lotus. According to legend, Gautama Buddha was born with the ability to walk and everywhere he stepped, lotus flowers bloomed.
The lotus does not grow in Tibet and so Tibetan art has only stylized versions of it, yet it appears frequently with Tibetan deities and among the Eight Auspicious Symbols.
The archaeology for the foundation of Buddhism lies in Greco-India. Similarly, the first anthropomorphic representations of Buddha appear first in Greco-India. Buddhism spread out along the trade routes in all directions, including to the Mogao Caves in China.
No doubt the Three Hares motif travelled the same way, with the same people, resting with them in the same monasteries used for trade.
The western terminus of this trade is in Egypt: the great city and port of Alexandria.
Left: Ancient Egyptian funerary stele showing a dead man, named Ba, seated in the centre, sniffing a sacred lily. New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, c. 1550-1292 BCE.
As in India, the lotus had been sacred since the most ancient times, as part of the Ancient Egyptian creation story, though to be strictly accurate, that was the lily.
Also as in India, where Buddhism appears out of earlier faith, so the lotus appears in Greco-Roman Egypt, transmuted from the ancient lily.
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Arsinoe II wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus or Arsinoe III wife of Ptolemy IV Philopator Gold Oktadrachm (struck under Ptolemy VI or VIII, ca. 180-116 BCE) Obverse: Diademed and draped bust of the Macedonian queen of Egypt Arsinoe right, with lotus-tipped sceptre over shoulder, ‘k’ behind her. |
The simple, bud form of the Lotiform column enjoyed widespread use in the Old and Middle Kingdom temples, declining in use during the New Kingdom and regaining popularity during the Greco-Roman Period. This column usually has ribbed shafts representing the the stems of the Lotus, and capitals in the form of a closed (bud) or open lotus flower.
The lotus, rather than the lily, becomes a motif of the (Macedonian) Polemies.
Right: Coin of Arsinoe II, Wife of Ptolemy II; a powerful portrait of the first mortal woman ever to appear on a coinage.
The Nelumbo nucifera of Ptolemaic Egypt is native to Greater India, where it is known as the Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus and it was taken from Asia to Egypt.
The Ptolemies used the motifs of Ancient Egypt, but in their own way, to their own purpose. This was a syncretic process, continued into the the last years of their rule, by the famous Cleopatra VII.
A syncretism between Greek and Egyptian should be expected; less so the Sacred Lotus of India in Ptolemaic Egypt.
Related posts:
- Greco-India: an introduction
- The Zen of Buddhist archaeology: earliest texts
- The language of Buddhist archaeology
- Private: Greco-Indian contact with Rome
- Private: An army of divine men and the secret army of Mithras
- The god of merchandise
- Archaeology and identity of the first Buddhists
- Archaeology of faith and trade
- Archaeology of a magical, distant land
- Hadrian’s parody
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