Indian National Flower Lotus
The national flower of a nation should have the nation's tradition, culture, history and heritage. Lotus is the National flower of India.
Now let's see in this article how Lotus is deeply connected to our Indian nation.
Lotus is an aquatic plant and its botanical name is Nelumbo nucifera. The lotus is native to Asia, Africa, Australi and North America. The stem of the lotus grows up to 3 meters and its leaves are spread up to 60 centimetres. The maximum number of petals is up to 116-160. Lotus is also the national flower of Vietnam.
Colour of the Lotus:
The colours of the lotus are, pink, white, blue, purple and yellow. In Asia, mostly the colour of the lotus is pink. In Africa and Australia, the colour of the lotus is blue and sometimes, it looks like yellow colour. The white lotus is common in all countries.
Due to the age of the lotus, its colour fades and resembles white in colour. Lotus changes its colour. During day time, it looks pink colour, and at nighttime, it looks white colour.
What does the colour of the lotus symbolise?
Each colour gives different types of meanings in different cultures.
According to Hindu culture, the white lotus represents Bhrama, the God of the creator. The yellow lotus represents Saraswathi, the Goddess of knowledge and the red lotus represents Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity.
According to Buddhism, the lotus is the symbol of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. The white lotus represents his spiritual purity. The yellow lotus represents his teachings and the blue lotus represents serenity and introspection.
Importance of Lotus in ancient books :
- Most of the scriptures, ancient traditions and mythology, they gave a special place for the lotus, in their works.
- In Rig Veda (1500-1200 BCE), even that time itself they spoke about Pushkara, which means blue lotus and Pundarrika which means the blossom of the lotus.
- In Silapathigaram, the poet describes the beauty of Madhavi, "The large lotus-eyed Madhavi". Most of the Tamil poets describe the beauty of the girl with the Lotus.
There is hardly any symbolism in Indian poetry, sculpture and painting more extensive than that belonging to the lotus flower and other parts of the plant,” writes Thomas Kintaert in On the Cultural Significance of the Leaf of the Indian Lotus.
Along with these qualities, the Indian government want every human being want to follow the special characteristics of Lotus. The reason is, Lotus is living in the muddy water, even though it was unattached to the muddy water. So, like lotus, human beings are also unattached to the wrong things and ideas which are surrounded them.
Lotus has so many medical qualities. So that CSIR-NBRI decided to increase the production of lotus. They decide to develop the crops so they tie up with other NGOs, Universities and industries.
Controversies about the nation flower:
Still now, Indian people believed that Lotus is the national flower of the nation. But, on 10th July 2017, Home Nithyanandha Rai (Union Minister of State) mentioned in Rajya Shaba, "The government has not given "national flower for any flower". It was mentioned in every newspaper like, The Hindu, The Indian Express, etc., Still, we don't get any answer from the government side.
But in 2023, another problem arrived. Lotus was printed in the G20 logo. Due to that, the controversy began between BJP and the Congress party. The Congress party charged that the lotus was the symbol of the BJP. To answer this question, Rajnath Singh mentioned, “The truth is that the Government of India, in 1950, had declared lotus as a national flower. And they did so because the lotus is a symbol of our cultural identity,”
Now, the question aroused in everybody's mind.
In 2017, Home Nithyanandha Rai said there was no national flower for India. But in 2023, Rajnath Singh declared that the lotus is the national flower of the nation.
Which one is correct?
If you know, please comment me in the comment box.
