Studies in Indian Art c9.s3.3

c9.s3.3

The Lotus has been extolled as the prime symbol of creation, the seat and substratum of universal creative force which springs from the navel or centre of the primeval Creator. Simplified to a concise Sūtra of art, it is expressed as Brahmā, the genius of creation, seated on a full-blown lotus with a long stalk springing from the navel of Viṣṇu. That the elaborate Paurāṇic cosmogony could be treated with such mastery of form gives a vantage-ground to the artist. As the lotus floats above water, so the created cosmos emerged to the surface of the primeval deep or 'chaos', which originally was the confused mass out of which the order of the universe was evolved. The Greek word chaos is the same as Vedic 'Kha'. 'Kham' represented the great chasm or vacuum out of which was born the 'Kam', or the Plenum. 'Kha' is the navel from which the cosmic lotus takes its birth. Again 'Kha' represents the centre of the Wheel of which the spokes and the peripheral frame mark the Universe.