Passing on to other countries, we find among the plants most conspicuous for their sacred character the well-known lotus of the East (_Nelunibium speciosum_), around which so many traditions and mythological legends have clustered. According to a Hindu legend, from its blossom Brahma came forth:--
"A form Cerulean fluttered o'er the deep; Brightest of beings, greatest of the great, Who, not as mortals steep Their eyes in dewy sleep, But heavenly pensive on the lotus lay, That blossom'd at his touch, and shed a golden ray. Hail, primal blossom! hail, empyreal gem, Kemel, or Pedma, [1] or whate'er high name Delight thee, say. What four-formed godhead came, With graceful stole and beamy diadem, Forth from thy verdant stem." [2]
Buddha, too, whose symbol is the lotus, is said to have first appeared floating on this mystic flower, and, indeed, it would seem that many of the Eastern deities were fond of resting on its leaves; while in China, the god Pazza is generally represented as occupying this position. Hence the lotus has long been an object of worship, and as a sacred plant holds a most distinguished place, for it is the flower of the,
"Old Hindu mythologies, wherein The lotus, attribute of Ganga--embling The world's great reproductive power--was held In veneration."
We may mention here that the lotus, known also as the sacred bean of Egypt, and the rose-lily of the Nile, as far back as four thousand years ago was held in high sanctity by the Egyptian priests, still retaining its sacred character in China, Japan, and Asiatic Russia.
Another famous sacred plant is the soma or moon-plant of India, the _Asclepias acida_, a climbing plant with milky juice, which Windischmann has identified with the "tree of life which grew in paradise." Its milk juice was said to confer immortality, the plant itself never decaying; and in a hymn in the _Rig Veda_ the soma sacrifice is thus described:--
"We've quaffed the soma bright And are immortal grown, We've entered into light And all the gods have known. What mortal can now harm, Or foeman vex us more? Through thee beyond alarm, Immortal God! we soar."
Then there is the peepul or bo-tree (_Ficus religiosa_), which is held in high veneration by the followers of Buddha, in the vicinity of whose temples it is generally planted. One of these trees in Ceylon is said to be of very great antiquity, and according to Sir J. E. Tennant, "to it kings have even dedicated their dominions in testimony of their belief that it is a branch of the identical fig-tree under which Gotama Buddha reclined when he underwent his apotheosis."