Tavare or Kamala or Indian Lotus

Did you know that Tavare or Kamala or Indian Lotus, sacred to ancient Indian religions, a perennial water plant, growing from a tuberous rootstock lying in mud at the bottom of lakes and ponds, is often cultivated for its sweet-scented, elegant flowers, and also for its edible rhizomes and seeds?

The Tavare or Kamala or Indian Lotus with the botanical name Nelumbo nucifera or nuciferaGaertn in the family of Nelumbonaceae, is not only native to India but also to China and Japan, north to the Amur region of Russia, New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia. The family Nelumbonaceae has single genus, Nelumbo, with three species: N. Komorovii, N.lutea, and N.nucifera, and the last one is subdivided on the basis of anatomical charachters. For "Nelumbo", DNY analysis has indicated an age of 100 million years as likely for its lineage.

Nelumbo nucifera is a derivative from the Sinhalese word 'neḷum' or Tamil word 'Neelum Poo'; the name for the lotus. It is widely cultivated as a food crop, especially in tropical Asia; as in India it is widely distributed from sub-Himalayan regions to southern most part of India. It is not only the sacred flower of the ancient times in Jainism, Buddhism and Hindusim as a symbol of purity and beauty, but in the present times it is the National Flower of India. It is widely known in Indian vernacular languages as: Kamalam, Padma in Sanskrit; Kamal, Padma in Hindi speaking regions; Kamala (ಕಮಲ), Tavare (ತಾವರೆ) in Kannada; Tamarai in Tamil; Tamara-puvvu in Telugu; Kanwal in Punjabi, and of course as Sacred lotus, Indian Lotus in English.

In Hindusim and Buddhism, it represents the path to spiritual awakening and enlightenment. A lotus throne, mostly pink coloured, is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, seen also holding lotus flowers in her hands. Brahma, as creator and is one of the trinity deities in Hinduism, is always depicted as meditating on the flower of lotus. According to Puranas, Brahma was born from the lotus that originated from the navel of Lord Vishnu. Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of education, is also depicted as seated on the flower of lotus. In the Bhagavadgita, Lord Krishna advises us to perform our Karma (duties) without attachment, like a lotus. An Indian lotus motif is also seen in many Hindu temples. Incidentaly, it is also a symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Buddhism, legend says that everywhere the baby Buddha stepped, a lotus flower bloomed. The famed Lotus Sutra is one of the most important texts of Mahayana Buddhism and is the foundation of the Pure Land schools. A gold lotus represents the realized enlightenment of all Buddhas. A pink lotus represents the Buddha and the history and succession of Buddhas.

Lotus plant, a perennial aquatic plant of the subtropics and tropics, grows in elevations up to 1,400 metres, and spreads 15 m wide in a year, and its roots run deep to 2 m. It is also grown in cooler climates that have a hot growing season of at least 5 months. It grows from a tuberous rootstock lying in mud at the bottom of lakes and ponds and slow flowing streams. The plant produces large leaves (orbicular, 60 – 90 cm) which float on the surface of the water. It has branched slender, underground, creeping rhizomes of which the terminal portions become tuberrous late in the growing season. A botanical text describes it as: "Vegetative parts of the plant have conspicous air chambers. Leaves arise alternatley from the rhizome and are floating or emergent. The petiole is long and warty, the blade round peltate and the margin entire. The surface is covered with a layer of water -repellant wax. The bisexual flowers emerge solitarily from the leaf axils and are held above the water surface on a long penducle. The free petals are numerous, the outermsot somwhat reduced, the inner ones larger and more-petal like. The stamens are numerous and have slender filaments and anthers that open by slits. The connective has an incurved appendage. The superior ovaries are numerous and indivudally embedded in the flattened top of a turbinate receptacle,. The style is short and the stigma nealry sessile. Fruits or fruit torus is large, top-shaped, 5 – 10 cm in diam and spongy, are indehiscent nuts that are loose in cavities in the receptacle. Flowers thermo regulate in order to release a scent to attarct insects and 30 degrees C tempreature rewards visiting insects with a stable environemnt for mating. They are pollinated by insects, usually beetles." The plant can also be propagated by rhizomes and also through seeds.

The tubers and embryos of both species are edible and in Asia, N. nucifera is widely cultivated as a food crop. The starch-containing rhizomes known in India as 'Kamal-kakadi' are used as a vegetable.

Flowers are traditionally used as an ornament and as offering in temples. The flower colours range from single colour in white, yellow, pink, red to bi-colour, most often of white petals with pink tip or highlightsFlowers were once used as the source of a perfume, however, the present day lotus perfume is a blend of patchouli, benzoin and storax with phenylethyl and cinnamic alcohols.

Nelumbo nucifera contains some thermal-stable proteins that might be useful in protein bio engineering processes. Hence, in traditonal medicinal use, as an aquatic herb, a kind of arrowroot is prepared from the fleshy rhizomes of Lotus plant. It is aromatic and sweet and is reported to be not only nutritious but also a tonic. The milky viscid juice of leaf and flower stalks is given to children in cases of diarrhoea, dysentery and dyspepsia. Rhizome paste is applied in ringworm and other cutaneous affections. Saline extracts of stem, leaves and flowers possess bacteriostatic action against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Also used to treat Gastric ulcers, excessive menstruation, Post-partum haemorrhage, Haemolysis, and Uterine bleeding. The honey from bees which visit lotus flowers is considered useful for affections of the eye. Carpels are demulcent and nutritive and are used to check vomiting; seeds are edible and medicinal.

A unique fabric called lotus silk, from the lotus plant fibers, is produced only at Inle lake, Myanmar and in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This thread is used for weaving special robes for Buddha images called kya thingan (lotus robe).

Narasipur Char