The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c11.24

c11.24

In all Indo-Aryan religious ritual, from the earliest Vedic times, the fruit of *Nelumbium speciosum*, the sacred lotus of Egypt (fig. 22) has always been regarded as a symbol of the opening by night, had a different shape (fig. 24) and a somewhat different symbolic implication. It was the jar which contained the *amrita*, or elixir of immortality, the nectar of the gods; and thus its form was adapted not only to sacrificial vessels, but to the ordinary Indian domestic water-pot, the lota. The shape of it was as admirably adapted for making a firm base to a pillar or column (fig. 21) as the form of the *Nelumbium* fruit was suitable for the structural purpose of the capital.