The (red) lotus has pride of place in Indian literature. The national floweris another universal favourite of the Gods, and its beauty is often used in in similes for the beauty of heros/heroines: "face as beautiful as a blooming lotus" or "eyes shaped like lotus petals". A woman's beauty may be compared to that of a pond full of blooming lotuses (
Nalinī, padminī) or her slender frame to that of a lotus stem. A famous couplet ascribed to Kalidasa describes a woman's face as a miracle of flower blooming within a flower: her beautiful eyes are like dark blue lotuses blooming in the pink lotus of her face!
The goddess Lakshmi sits on a red Lotus, and Sarasvati, on a white one. The Lotus is associated with Lord Brahma, who was created sitting on a lotus arising from the navel of Lord Vishnu. The lotus has esoteric and sacred significance in spirituality. The Mother Goddess (Devi) is called
Kamalāmba or "Lotus Mother": she resides in a thousand-petalled lotus said to be located in the
Sahasrāra Chakra in the head. Raising the serpent power
kundalini to this place leads to Realization, which is the aim of the practitioners of "Sri Vidya Upasana". Lotus symbols are central in yantra patterns, and form part of many designs of decoration in more secular contexts. The lotus blooms at day and closes at night: so the sun is referred to as the "Friend of the Lotus".
