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{{short description|Stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure in Asian art}}
[[File:Monkey gives honey to Buddha Shakyamuni, India, Bihar, probably Kurkihar, Pala dynasty, c. 1000 AD, black stone - Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm - DSC09270.JPG|300px|thumb|The three Buddha figures here each have a lotus throne. [[Pala Empire|Pala dynasty]], Eastern India, c. 1000.]]
The '''lotus throne''', sometimes called '''lotus platform''', is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure in art associated with [[Indian religions]]. It is the normal [[pedestal]] for divine figures in [[Buddhist art]] and [[Hindu art]], and often seen in [[Jain art]].<ref>Pal, 39</ref> Originating in [[Indian art]], it followed [[Indian religions]] to [[East Asia]] in particular.
[[File:HanaNoHasu7.jpg|thumb|Flower of ''[[nelumbo nucifera]]'', the [[Indian lotus]]; its colour range is from white to red]]

The precise form varies, but is intended to represent the opening flower of ''[[Nelumbo nucifera]]'', the [[Indian lotus]]. In the traditional biographies lotus flowers sprung up at [[the Buddha]]'s first seven steps, and in some Buddhist legends the baby [[Padmasambhava]] emerged from a lotus flower. The Indian lotus is an aquatic plant similar to a [[Nymphaeaceae|water lily]], though not actually any close relation. It has a large, round, and flat [[Receptacle (botany)|seed 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 the [[lotus effect]] or [[ultrahydrophobicity]]. 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.<ref>Pal, 39–42; Coomaraswamy, 21; Krishan & Tadikonda, 65; Rodrigues</ref> According to the [[Pali Canon]], the Buddha himself began this often-repeated metaphor, in the [[Aṅguttara Nikāya]], saying that the lotus flower raises from the muddy water unstained, as he raises from this world, free from the defilements taught in the [[sutra]].<ref>Pal, 39–40; Coomaraswamy, 21; the texts are: AN 10.81, "Bāhuna suttaṃ"; AN 4.36, "Doṇa suttaṃ".</ref>

In [[Sanskrit]] the throne is called either a ''[[padmāsana]]'' ({{langx|sa|पद्मासन}}, {{IPA|sa|pɐdmaːsɐnɐ|}}, ''[[asana|āsana]]'' is the name for a seated position), which is also the name for the [[Lotus position]] in meditation and [[yoga]], or ''padmapitha'',<ref>Jansen, 18</ref> ''padma'' meaning lotus and ''pitha'' a base or plinth.<ref>Pal, 45</ref>

==History==
The earliest of the [[Veda]]s, the ''[[Rigveda]]'', describes the other gods watching the birth of [[Agni]], the god of fire, seated on lotus flowers; also the birth of [[Vasishtha]].<ref>Coomaraswamy, 18–19; Pal, 40</ref> In Hindu myth, the major deity [[Brahma]] emerged from a lotus growing from the navel of [[Vishnu]].<ref>Pal, 40</ref>
[[File:The Hindu Goddess Parvati LACMA M.77.82 (3 of 12).jpg|thumb|Double-thrones under [[Parvati]], 11th century]]

In art the form is first seen as a base for rare early images of [[Laxmi]] from the 2nd century BCE; many or most of these may have a Buddhist context.<ref>Coomaraswamy, 22; Krishan & Tadikonda, 78, note 89</ref> However it first becomes common with seated [[Buddha]] figures in the [[Greco-Buddhist art]] of [[Gandhara]] around the late 2nd or the 3rd century CE.<ref>Moore & Klein, 149; Krishan & Tadikonda, 65</ref> It may have reached the [[Deccan]] as early as the end of the 2nd century.<ref>Pal, 41; Walser, 80–87</ref> At some point, probably around 200, and before his death in about 250, the Buddhist thinker [[Nagarjuna]] exhorted an unknown Buddhist monarch, very probably in the Deccan, to:
<blockquote>... Please construct from all precious substances
Images of Buddha with fine proportions
Well designed and sitting on lotuses ...<ref>Walser, 80, 86–87 for the date</ref></blockquote>

– suggesting this [[iconography]] was current by then. It is not clear from the language whether sculptures or paintings, or both, were meant.<ref>Walser, 81–83</ref>

In early Buddhist art it may be intended to specifically depict the second of [[the Twin Miracle]]s 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.<ref>Krishan & Tadikonda, 67</ref> It became used for other Buddhist figures, and adopted for other Hindu deities than [[Laxmi|Lakshmi]].

==Form==
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.<ref>Lerner & Kossak, Nos. 68, 84, 88, 89, 92, 94, 97, 101 (for ''vishvapadma''), 110, 111, 113 etc.</ref> 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.<ref>Lerner & Kossak, Nos. 133, 139, 140; Hāṇḍā, Omacanda, ''Gaddi Land in Chamba: Its History, Art & Culture : New Light on the Early Wooden Temples'', 78–79, 2005, Indus Publishing, {{ISBN|8173871744}}, 9788173871740, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2EaFNQ7Zfl8C&pg=PA78 google books]</ref>

The [[bingdi 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. In [[East Asia]]n paintings, and also modern Hindu paintings, the lotus throne is often depicted more realistically in terms of its shape (not its size).

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">

File:Shri Lakshmi Lustrated by Elephants (Gaja-Lakshmi) LACMA M.85.62 (cropped).jpg|[[Gaja-Laxmi]], 1st century BCE, [[terracotta]], 14.61 cm tall.<ref>Pal, 40</ref>
File:Dinar of Chandragupta II LACMA M.77.55.20 (2 of 3) (cropped).jpg|Gold dinar coin of [[Chandragupta II]], reigned c. 375–c. 415 CE
File:Shiva as the Lord of Dance LACMA.jpg|Restrained double-lotus throne typical of [[Chola bronzes]], when they have them at all. Shiva [[Nataraja]], 10th century.
File:Juntei Kannon.jpg|[[Guanyin]], 12th-century Japan
File:Tibet, mahakala sotto l'aspetto di ye-shes mgon-po, xii sec.JPG|Apart from the three figures, the pendent foot of this 12th-century Tibetan [[Mahakala]] has its own throne
File:Krishna, the Butter Thief LACMA M.84.34 (1 of 2).jpg|[[Krishna]], the butter thief, ivory, 16th-century India
File:Likir-Gompa-03.jpg|Fancy coloured Buddhist throne under [[Mahakala]], [[Ladakh]]
File:Shri Lakshmi Lustrated by Elephants (Gaja-Lakshmi) LACMA M.74.40.1 (1 of 5).jpg|Single lotus throne under [[Gaja-Laxmi]], with side stalks and buds, [[Odisha]], 18th century
File:Raja Ravi Varma, Goddess Lakshmi, 1896.jpg|[[Raja Ravi Varma]], ''Goddess Lakshmi'', 1896

</gallery>

==Representing the whole plant==
[[File:059 Queen Maya lustrated by Elephants (33364982300).jpg|thumb|The Buddha's mother, [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|Queen Maya]], lustrated by elephants. [[Sanchi]], Stupa 3 gateway, probably 1st century CE]]
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 of [[Gaja-Laxmi]] in Cave 16 at [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]] shows a pond of lotus leaves and budding flowers as a vertical panel below the throne.<ref>Michell, 362</ref>
[[File:Burma - Seated Buddha - 2011.149 - Cleveland Museum of Art (cropped).tif|thumb|Burmese wood and [[lacquer]] Buddha, 11th century]]

Other compositions show stalks, buds and flowers reaching up beside a main figure.<ref>Lerner & Kossak, Nos. 116, 117, 119</ref> These may terminate in a flower held by the main figure,<ref>Pal, 39</ref> especially if it is [[Avalokitesvara]] or from the 5th or 6th century Vishnu, (both also having the epithet Padmapani, "lotus holder"),<ref>Pal, 41</ref> or in another lotus throne behind the hand, if it is outstretched in a [[mudra]]. 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.<ref>Pal, 40</ref> The [[Sanchi]] stone relief illustrated here shows a similar composition with [[Maya (mother of the Buddha)|Queen Maya, mother of the Buddha]]. Above or below the water, the stems may be supported by small ''naga'' figures.<ref>Coomaraswamy, 53</ref>

The lotus plant in lotus thrones is often imagined as growing out of the [[cosmic ocean]], and a few images represent the plant below the water level, with a stem also representing the [[world axis]].<ref>Coomaraswamy, 20, 53–55</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{commons category}}
*[[Ananda Coomaraswamy|Coomaraswamy, Ananda]], ''Elements of Buddhist Iconography'', Harvard University Press, 1935, [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13957/page/n31 online text]
*Jansen, Eva Rudy, ''The Book of Hindu Imagery: The Gods and their Symbols'', 1993, Binkey Kok Publications, {{ISBN|9074597076}}, 9789074597074, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1iASyoae8cMC&pg=PA18 google books]
*Krishan, Yuvrajmm, Tadikonda, Kalpana K., ''The Buddha Image: Its Origin and Development'', 1996, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, {{ISBN|8121505658}}, 9788121505659, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kDyJh--iaL0C&pg=PA65 google books]
*Lerner, Martin and Kossak, Steven, ''The Lotus Transcendent: Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection'', 1991, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), {{ISBN|0870996134}}, 9780870996139, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KVoKd9vDSxsC&pg=PA185 google books]
*Michell, George (1990), ''The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India, Volume 1: Buddhist, Jain, Hindu'', 1990, Penguin Books, {{ISBN|0140081445}}
*Moore, Albert C., Klein, Charlotte, ''Iconography of Religions: An Introduction'', 1977, Chris Robertson, {{ISBN|0800604881}}, 9780800604882, [https://books.google.com/books?id=chWcZcYcyeQC&pg=PA149 google books]
*Pal, Pratapaditya, ''Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700'', Volume 1 of ''Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection'', 1986, Los Angeles County Museum of Art/University of California Press, {{ISBN|0520059913}}, 9780520059917, [https://books.google.com/books?id=clUmKaWRFTkC&pg=PA41 google books]
*Rodrigues, H, [http://www.mahavidya.ca/2016/04/22/the-sacred-lotus-symbol/ "The Sacred Lotus Symbol"], ''Mahavidya'', 2016
*Walser, Joseph, ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'', 2005, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|0231506236}}, 9780231506236, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PUmrdqQ8Vz8C&pg=PA80 google books]

[[Category:Buddhist iconography]]
[[Category:Hindu iconography]]
[[Category:Indian art]]
[[Category:Jain iconography]]
[[Category:Plants in art]]
[[Category:Flowers in religion]]
[[Category:Lotuses in culture]]

Lotus throne - Revision history

Sergqpm at 02:04, 16 April 2026