The lotus flower is a globally recognized symbol. Why does it have such significance, and what is it used for in Ayurveda?
The dried petals of the lotus flower can be used to make a tea. Lotus roots are often sliced and cooked in vegetable preparations to make a tasty and crunchy addition, and they have many favorable properties, particularly for women's health. Lotus seeds are puffed and also used in various preparations.
There are many Sanskrit words for the lotus - kamala, padma and pankaja are probably the first three that come to mind.
Pankaja means "that which is born from muck." This past summer was the hottest on record here in Austin, and the lotuses I've grown in containers in a small backyard pond for the past 2 years finally jumped out of their containers and got started in the thick layer of muck on the bottom of the pond. It's a fairly natural aquaculture environment with a thriving colony of goldfish slowly but surely contributing.
Once the lotuses got started growing in the bottom mud, they really took off. Instead of having perhaps 4-5 blooms in a year from each of the three varieties, we had 1-2 blooms daily for a few weeks. We expect them to go dormant again when things get cold (they've survived a week-long freeze with ice on the surface of the pond) but they come back in the spring.
