The Lotus, the national flower of India, is a symbol of supreme reality. Hindu religion and mythology portray goddess Saraswathi, the muse of learning, as being seated on a lotus flower. To the Indian psyche, the lotus is more than a flower – it represents both beauty and non-attachment. There is a saying that although it grows in mud, it smells of myrrh. Toru Dutt in her sonnet “The Lotus” addresses the flower as the “queenliest flower that blows.”
The lotus grows in fresh water ponds and lakes and in semitropical climates. It blossoms gradually and magnificently – one petal at a time and reaches full bloom when the rays of the sun kiss the flower. There are innumerable poems praising the love between the sun and the flower in literature in general and Indian literature in particular. The lotus is found in different colours, namely, white, red, blue, pink, and purple and is found in many Asian countries.