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In Asian art a lotus throne is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure. It is the normal pedestal for divine figures in Buddhist art and Hindu art, and often seen in Jain art. Originating in Indian art, it followed Indian religions to East Asia in particular.
The precise form varies, but is intended to represent the opening flower of the Indian lotus; in some Buddhist legends the baby Buddha emerged from a lotus flower. Among other symbolic meanings, nelumbo nucifera, the Indian lotus, is an acquatic plant, similar to a water lily, though not actually any close relation. Among other unusual characteristics, nelumbo nucifera has particular properties of repelling water, known as the lotus effect or ultrahydrophobicity. Thus it rises above the water environment it lives in, and is not contaminated by it.
The form is first seen as a base for rare early images of Laxmi from the 2nd century BCE. However it first becomes common with seated Buddha figures in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara around the 3rd century CE. In early Buddhist art it may be intended to specifically depict second of the Twin Miracles in the legend of the Buddha's life. In some accounts of this, when engaged in a contest with sorcerers, the Buddha multiplied himself into other bodies, which sat or stood on lotus flowers. It became used for other Buddhist figures, and began to be adopted for Hindu deities.
Notes
- Krishan & Tadikonda, 65
- Krishan & Tadikonda, 78, note 89
- Moore & Klein, 149
References
- Krishan, Yuvrajmm, Tadikonda, Kalpana K., The Buddha Image: Its Origin and Development, 1996, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, ISBN 8121505658, 9788121505659, google books
- Moore, Albert C., Klein, Charlotte, Iconography of Religions: An Introduction, 1977, Chris Robertson, ISBN 0800604881, 9780800604882, google books