DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0126
116
Being, therefore, of a nature thus reproductive in itself, and, as
it were, of a viviparous species among plants, the nelumbo was
naturally adopted as the symbol of the productive power of the
waters, upon which the active Spirit of the Creator operated ill
spreading life and vegetation over the earth. It also appeared to
have a peculiar sympathy with the Sun, the great fountain of life
and motion, by rising above the waters as it rose above the horizon,
and sinking under themas it retired below.1 Accordingly we find
it employed in every part of the Northern hemisphere, where sym-
bolical worship either does or ever did prevail. The sacred images
of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians, are almost all placed upon
it;* and it is still sacred both in Tibet and China.3 The upper
part of the base of the lingam also consists of the flower of it
blended with the more distinctive characteristic of the female sex ;
in which that of the male is placed, in order to complete this mystic
symbol of the ancient religion of the Bramins ;4 who, in their
sacred writings speak of the Creator Braina sitting upon his lotus
WHp^^zvywoisi-1)01: dJlKjw Ml "Misoqqua' u-m io 3?.:uit>^
147. On the Isiac table, the figures of Isis are represented
holding the stem of this plant, surmounted by the seed-vessel,
in one hand, and the circle and cross, before explained, in (he other ;
and in a temple, delineated upon the same mystic table, are
columns exactly resembling the plant, which Isis holds in her hand,
except that the stem is made proportionately large, to give that sta-
bility, which is requisite to support a roof and entablature. Co-
lumns and capitals of the same kind are still existing in great
numbers among the ruins of Thebes in iljgypt; and more parti-
cularly among those on the island of Phifee on the borders of
./Ethiopia ; which was anciently held so sacred that none but priests
1 Theophrast. Uist. Plant, lib. iv.c. 10.
2 See Kasmpfer, D'Auteroche, Sonnerat, and the Asiatic Researches.
s Embassy to Tibet, p. 143. Sir G. Staunton's Embassy to China, p. S91.
vol. ii.
+ Sonnerat Voyage aux Indes, &c.
' '.TvatGceta, pi 91. See also the figure of him by Sir William Jones,
5 -iatic Researches, vol. i. p. 243.
in the At
Being, therefore, of a nature thus reproductive in itself, and, as
it were, of a viviparous species among plants, the nelumbo was
naturally adopted as the symbol of the productive power of the
waters, upon which the active Spirit of the Creator operated ill
spreading life and vegetation over the earth. It also appeared to
have a peculiar sympathy with the Sun, the great fountain of life
and motion, by rising above the waters as it rose above the horizon,
and sinking under themas it retired below.1 Accordingly we find
it employed in every part of the Northern hemisphere, where sym-
bolical worship either does or ever did prevail. The sacred images
of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians, are almost all placed upon
it;* and it is still sacred both in Tibet and China.3 The upper
part of the base of the lingam also consists of the flower of it
blended with the more distinctive characteristic of the female sex ;
in which that of the male is placed, in order to complete this mystic
symbol of the ancient religion of the Bramins ;4 who, in their
sacred writings speak of the Creator Braina sitting upon his lotus
WHp^^zvywoisi-1)01: dJlKjw Ml "Misoqqua' u-m io 3?.:uit>^
147. On the Isiac table, the figures of Isis are represented
holding the stem of this plant, surmounted by the seed-vessel,
in one hand, and the circle and cross, before explained, in (he other ;
and in a temple, delineated upon the same mystic table, are
columns exactly resembling the plant, which Isis holds in her hand,
except that the stem is made proportionately large, to give that sta-
bility, which is requisite to support a roof and entablature. Co-
lumns and capitals of the same kind are still existing in great
numbers among the ruins of Thebes in iljgypt; and more parti-
cularly among those on the island of Phifee on the borders of
./Ethiopia ; which was anciently held so sacred that none but priests
1 Theophrast. Uist. Plant, lib. iv.c. 10.
2 See Kasmpfer, D'Auteroche, Sonnerat, and the Asiatic Researches.
s Embassy to Tibet, p. 143. Sir G. Staunton's Embassy to China, p. S91.
vol. ii.
+ Sonnerat Voyage aux Indes, &c.
' '.TvatGceta, pi 91. See also the figure of him by Sir William Jones,
5 -iatic Researches, vol. i. p. 243.
in the At