Thelotus throne, sometimes calledlotus platform, is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure in art associated withIndian religions. It is the normalpedestal for divine figures inBuddhist art andHindu art, and often seen inJain art.[1] Originating inIndian art, it followedIndian religions toEast Asia in particular.
The precise form varies, but is intended to represent the opening flower ofNelumbo nucifera, theIndian lotus. In the traditional biographies lotus flowers sprung up atthe Buddha's first seven steps, and in some Buddhist legends the babyPadmasambhava emerged from a lotus flower. The Indian lotus is an aquatic plant similar to awater lily, though not actually any close relation. It has a large, round, and flatseed head in the centre of the flower, with initially small openings above each of the relatively small number of seeds. Among other unusual characteristics,nelumbo nucifera has particular properties of repelling water, known as thelotus effect orultrahydrophobicity. Among other symbolic meanings, it rises above the water environment it lives in, and is not contaminated by it, so providing a model for Buddhists.[2] According to thePali Canon, the Buddha himself began this often-repeated metaphor, in theAṅguttara Nikāya, saying that the lotus flower raises from the muddy water unstained, as he raises from this world, free from the defilements taught in thesutra.[3]
InSanskrit the throne is called either apadmāsana (Sanskrit:पद्मासन,[pɐdmaːsɐnɐ],āsana is the name for a seated position), which is also the name for theLotus position in meditation andyoga, orpadmapitha,[4]padma meaning lotus andpitha a base or plinth.[5]
The earliest of theVedas, theRigveda, describes the other gods watching the birth ofAgni, the god of fire, seated on lotus flowers; also the birth ofVasishtha.[6] In Hindu myth, the major deityBrahma emerged from a lotus growing from the navel ofVishnu.[7]
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In art the form is first seen as a base for rare early images ofLaxmi from the 2nd century BCE; many or most of these may have a Buddhist context.[8] However it first becomes common with seatedBuddha figures in theGreco-Buddhist art ofGandhara around the late 2nd or the 3rd century CE.[9] It may have reached theDeccan as early as the end of the 2nd century.[10] At some point, probably around 200, and before his death in about 250, the Buddhist thinkerNagarjuna exhorted an unknown Buddhist monarch, very probably in the Deccan, to:
... Please construct from all precious substances
Images of Buddha with fine proportions
Well designed and sitting on lotuses ...[11]
– suggesting thisiconography was current by then. It is not clear from the language whether sculptures or paintings, or both, were meant.[12]
In early Buddhist art it may be intended to specifically depict the second ofthe Twin Miracles in the legend of the Buddha's life. In some accounts of this, when engaged in a contest with sorcerers, the Buddha multiplied himself into other bodies, which sat or stood on lotus flowers.[13] It became used for other Buddhist figures, and adopted for other Hindu deities thanLakshmi.
The throne in art evolved to be rather distant from the actual plant. In historic sculpture there is very often a clear dividing line about halfway up; this type is called a "double-lotus" (vishvapadma) pedestal or throne.[14] Most often petal shapes both rise and fall from the dividing line, but sometimes the upper part of the throne represents the prominent flat-topped seed head as a base for the figure, perhaps with circles for the holes holding the seeds, as in maturing lotus heads.[15]
Thebingdi lotus is a particular strain with two back-to-back flowers on each stem, but it is not clear if this influenced the form in art. InEast Asian paintings, and also modern Hindu paintings, the lotus throne is often depicted more realistically in terms of its shape (not its size).
![Gaja-Laxmi, 1st century BCE, terracotta, 14.61 cm tall.[16]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aShri_Lakshmi_Lustrated_by_Elephants_(Gaja-Lakshmi)_LACMA_M.85.62_(cropped).jpg)
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The vast majority of lotus thrones just depict an isolated flower or a group of flowers under different figures. But some images depict more of the plant. A famous relief ofGaja-Laxmi in Cave 16 atEllora shows a pond of lotus leaves and budding flowers as a vertical panel below the throne.[17]
Other compositions show stalks, buds and flowers reaching up beside a main figure.[18] These may terminate in a flower held by the main figure,[19] especially if it isAvalokitesvara or from the 5th or 6th century Vishnu, (both also having the epithet Padmapani, "lotus holder"),[20] or in another lotus throne behind the hand, if it is outstretched in amudra. Alternatively, stalks may climb up to support lotus thrones underneath minor, smaller, figures, as in the early terracotta plaque illustrated above, where stalks rise at the side to support the elephants lustrating Gaja-Laxmi. This is seen in the 1st century BCE terracotta plaque illustrated above.[21] TheSanchi stone relief illustrated here shows a similar composition withQueen Maya, mother of the Buddha. Above or below the water, the stems may be supported by smallnaga figures.[22]
The lotus plant in lotus thrones is often imagined as growing out of thecosmic ocean, and a few images represent the plant below the water level, with a stem also representing theworld axis.[23]
