the female principle throughout Nature, or as the "womb of all
creation," and is sacred throughout oriental countries. It is
said to be androgynous or hermaphrodite--hence its peculiarly
sacred character.

It has long been thought that this lily is produced without the
aid of the male pollen, hence it would seem to be an appropriate
emblem for that ancient sect which worshipped the female as the
more important creative energy.

Of the lotus, Inman remarks: "Amongst fourteen kinds of food and
flowers presented to the Sanskrit God Anata, the lotus only is
indispensable." This emblem, as we have seen, was the symbol of
the Great Mother, and we are assured that it was "little less
sacred than the Queen of Heaven herself."

Regarding the lotus and its universal significance as a religious
emblem, Payne Knight says:

"The lotus is the Nelumbo of Linnaeus. This plant grows in the
water, and amongst its broad leaves puts forth a flower, in the
center of which is formed the seed vessel, shaped like a bell or
inverted cone, and punctured on the top with little cavities or
cells, in which the seeds grow. The orifices of these cells
being too small to let the seeds drop out when ripe, they shoot
forth into new plants, in the places where they were formed, the
bulb of the vessel serving as a matrix to nourish them until they
acquire such a degree of magnitude as to burst it open and
release themselves, after which, like other aquatic weeds, they
take root wherever the current deposits them. This plant,