Peace and Enlightment

Water lily ... more

by Sonali Gangane

Title

Peace and Enlightment

Artist

Sonali Gangane

Medium

Photograph

Description

Water lily
Nymphaea odorata Family: Nymphaeaceae
Known as the ~Queen of the Water,~ it is found in shallow ponds, streams, and lakes. According to an Indian legend, the water lily was once a star. It fell from the sky on the water and changed into a flower.
The giant water lily is the Amazon, or Royal water lily ~Victoria amazonica~, found in the Amazon Valley. It has flowers with a circumference of more than 18 inches (45 centimeters) and flat leaves 2 to 6 feet in diameter. The upper surface of the leaves is bright green and the underside a vivid crimson. The leaves are firm enough to bear the weight of a child. Legend about the giant water lily goes... An Indian girl of one of the Brazilian tribes was told by her father of an ancient belief that a handsome and powerful warrior-god lived in the moon. She believed the tale and fell in love with the warrior-in-the-moon. After that, no boy of her tribe seemed worthy of her affection. Her family's efforts to marry her failed. She waited patiently, during the days when the moon was not visible and when it emerged in its full splendor each lunar cycle, she would spend hours staring into the sky, trying to see the face of her imagined love. Often she would run through the jungle, as the moon shone at its fullest, trying to catch its rays and embrace her warrior lover. Her parents and friends despaired of ever convincing her that the passion she felt was a mere illusion.
One night when a full moon shone in a cloudless sky, she went into the jungle, this time determined to embrace the moon-warrior and have him forever. She raced further in the jungle and came upon a glass-like lake where she saw the reflection of the moon. She thought, that the moon warrior had come down to Earth, to bathe in a pool and without a moment's hesitation, she planged into the lake to meet him but she drowned in the pool. The warrior-in-the-moon, so goes the legend, took pity on the girl who had loved him so much that she had died in desperation trying to embrace him. Filled with remorse, but without the power to bring her back to life, he resolved to make her a star on Earth. He transformed the dead girl into a star of the fresh flowing waters of the Amazon River. The star is now the giant flower which reigns supreme as queen of all aquatic plants. The Indian girl was transformed into the giant water lily, the ~Vitória-régia~ whose flower opens wide only at night. It is said that the ~Vitória-régia~ opens itself to its utmost only full moon when the sky over the Amazon jungle is cloudless and particularly clear.
Thanks for viewing.2012©Sonali T.Gangane

Uploaded

December 24th, 2012