Lotus flowers have been used throughout history in South Asia and have been featured in Buddhist and Hindu art, architecture and literature. The flowers became symbolic of immortality and resurrection because people observed that they would grow from the bottom of dried up pools after the monsoon rains.
Vishnu is represented with a lotus in his navel because mythology states that a golden lotus emerged from his navel as he lay upon the primordial waters and Brahma sat upon it. A lotus also emerged from Vishnu's forehead and the lotus-hued goddess Lakshmi sprang from it. She is therefore also called Padma and iconography depicts her seated on a fully blooming pink lotus, holding a lotus and being purified by elephants. Vishnu also always carries a lotus in his hand and almost all the gods of the Hindu pantheon are seated on lotuses or carry the flower.
Lotus is a wholly edible species and is cultivated as a food plant in China, Japan, Hawaii, India and Korea. It is prized mainly for its crisp rhizomes and seeds, though the flowers and leaves are also eaten in some areas.
The fruits are sold in Indian markets for the edible seeds embedded in it. The seeds are removed of their outer covering and embryo, which is intensely bitter. They are sweet and tasty and may be eaten raw, roasted, boiled, candied or ground into flour.
