revere it with the divinities Vishnu and Lakshmi often portrayed on a pink lotus in iconography; historically, many deities usually sit on a stylized lotus throne. In the representation of Vishnu as Padmanabha, a lotus issues from his navel Brahma on it. The goddessSaraswati is portrayed on a white-colored lotus. The lotus is the symbol of what is divine or immortal in humanity, and is also a symbol of divine perfection. The lotus is the attribute of sun and fire gods. It symbolizes the realization of inner potential and in Tantric and Yogic traditions the lotus symbolizes the potential of an individual to harness the flow of energy moving through the chakras flowering as the thousand -petaled lotus of enlightenment at the top of the skull. Vishnu is often described as the "Lotus-Eyed One". The lotus's unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise. In Hindu iconography, other deities, like Ganga and Ganesha are often depicted with lotus flowers as their seats. The lotus plant is cited extensively within Puranic and Vedic literature, for example:
In the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha compares himself to a lotus, saying that the lotus flower raises from the muddy water unstained, as he raises from this world, free from the defilements taught in the specific sutta. In Buddhist symbolism, the lotus represents purity of the body, speech and mind, as if floating above the murky waters of material attachment and physical desire. According to legend, Gautama Buddha's first steps made lotus flowers appear everywhere he stepped. In Tibet, Padmasambhava, the Lotus-Born, is considered the Second Buddha, having brought Buddhism to that country by conquering or converting local deities; he is normally depicted holding a flower. Lotus thrones are the normal pedestal for most important figures in Buddhist art.
Jainism
The founders of Jainism are portrayed seated or standing on lotus thrones. As his name suggests, the Jain tirthankara Padmaprabha is also represented by the symbol of a lotus. Padmaprabha means 'bright as a red lotus' in Sanskrit. It is said in Śvetāmbara sources that his mother had a fancy for a couch of red lotuses – padma – while he was in her womb.
In the classical written and oral literature of many Asian cultures the lotus is present in figurative form, representing elegance, beauty, perfection, purity and grace, being often used in poems and songs as an allegory for ideal feminine attributes. In Sanskrit the word lotus has many synonyms: since the lotus thrives on water, ja is added to words for water to derive synonyms for lotus, like rajiv, ambuja + ja ), neerja + ja ), pankaj, pankaja, kamal, kamala, kunala, aravind, arvind, nalin, nalini and saroja and names derived from the lotus, like padmavati or padmini. These names and derived versions are often used to name girls, and to a lesser extent boys, throughout South and Southeast Asia. The lotus flower is the state flower of several Indian states, including Karnataka, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh. The lotus flower is the election symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party, one of the two major political parties in India.
