Kamala (Lotus)

What is Kamala?

Kamala is the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, the great water flower that rises clean out of muddy ponds and slow rivers across India. Almost everyone knows it by sight. The broad round leaves float or stand above the water, and from among them the flower opens on a long stalk, pink or white, with a cup of golden stamens at its heart and a flat seed head like a little watering can at its centre. It is one of the most recognised plants in the world, and one of the most loved.

The Sanskrit names read like a small poem in themselves. Kamala and Padma are the everyday names for the flower. Pundarika is the white lotus, Ambuja means “water-born”, and the plant carries dozens more names besides, each catching some part of the way it grows from water and mud into something clean and bright. No other plant is quite so deeply woven into Indian culture and symbolism. It is the seat of gods, the emblem of purity rising unstained from the mud, and a figure the poets and philosophers return to again and again. Ayurveda inherits all of that and treats the lotus, quite plainly, as a herb as well.

What makes Kamala a little different from most entries is that so many parts of the one plant are used, and each has its own character. The flower and its petals, the golden stamens known as Padma Kesara, the seed called Kamala beeja (the familiar puffed makhana of the Indian kitchen), the underwater rhizome and the leaf all appear in the classical literature, and the texts are careful to keep their uses distinct. The stamen in particular is singled out as the most astringent and cooling part of all.

What Ayurveda uses it for

Across the classical texts Kamala sits among the cooling, complexion-giving flowers, a raktapitta-hara substance, meaning one that settles the heat and the bleeding tendency the tradition groups under Pitta in the blood. Its taste is astringent and sweet with a bitter edge, its nature cool, and from those few qualities the whole of its classical use follows. It is counted a hridya herb, one the texts call friendly to the heart, a varnya herb that improves the complexion, and a daha-prashamana substance that settles a sense of burning. The stamens add a firm stambhana, or checking, quality on top of all this, a gentle holding-in that the flower alone does not carry so strongly.

Within that role the dravyaguna texts describe the lotus and its parts as traditionally indicated in a familiar set of conditions, each named here in its classical Sanskrit term with a plain gloss:

• Raktapitta: a classical bleeding tendency, the heat of the blood spilling over, which is the foremost and most characteristic use of the lotus.
• Daha: a burning sensation in the body, which the cool, sweet flower is turned upon.
• Trishna: excessive thirst, another sign of inner heat that the cooling flower is said to quiet.
• Hridroga: understood here as a Hridya support in the classical sense, the lotus being counted among the herbs friendly to the heart.
• Vaivarnya: a poor or dulled complexion, where its varnya quality is called upon.
• Atisara: diarrhoea and loose motions, chiefly through the astringent stamen, Padma Kesara, which checks the flow.
• Pradara: a classical women’s complaint of excessive discharge, again through the checking, astringent stamen.
• Chardi: nausea and vomiting, which the cool and settling flower is said to ease.

These are the traditional textual indications recorded in the classical literature. They set out how Ayurveda has long understood the plant and are given here for reference and study, not as statements of medical effect or as advice to treat any condition.

It is worth holding on to the point that the different parts have their own uses. The flower and petals lean towards the cooling, complexion-giving and heart-friendly side. The golden stamen, Padma Kesara, is the most astringent and cooling of all, and it is the part the texts reach for whenever there is a flow to be checked, in loose motions or in a bleeding tendency. The seed is the most nourishing, a light and sweet food; and the rhizome and leaf carry their own cool, sweet character in cooling drinks and pastes. Reading the lotus well means reading the part, not just the plant.

Its qualities, in plain words

Ayurveda describes every herb by a short list of qualities, and for Kamala they line up neatly behind its reputation as a cooler and settler of heat.

Its taste is astringent and sweet, with a bitter edge, and in Ayurveda astringent is the taste that draws together and holds, while sweet is the taste of nourishment and calm. It is light and slightly unctuous, so it sits easily on the body and cools without weighing it down or drying it out. Above all it is cooling, the one quality the texts return to over and over, which is why it suits hot, irritated, burning states and the fiery quality of Pitta in the blood. And it finishes sweet after digestion, a sign that it settles and steadies rather than provoking. Put together, these qualities describe a cool, sweet, gently astringent flower, and because that same coolness and lightness also help to settle the heavy, damp quality of Kapha, the tradition holds that the lotus pacifies both Pitta and Kapha at once. The astringent stamen carries the checking, holding quality furthest, which is why it, more than the petal, is the part named wherever a flow must be reined in.

How it is taken

The lotus is taken in as many ways as it has parts. Most classically the flower and the golden stamens are dried and powdered, the churna, and stirred into cool liquids or set into named preparations. For a bleeding tendency or for burning, the powdered stamen is a common form, sometimes taken with honey or with a cooling drink; for loose motions the same astringent stamen is turned to its checking use.

On the outside of the body, the petals and the flower are ground with a little water into a smooth, cool paste, the lepa, which is laid on hot or irritated skin, both as a remedy and as an old cosmetic for the complexion. The lotus lends its name and its cool character to Chandanadi and other cooling formulas, and it appears among the flowers in the Pushpa groups of the Nighantus and in cooling medicated ghees and syrups. The seed, the makhana, is eaten as a light, sweet, nourishing food in its own right, and the rhizome and leaf go into cooling drinks and preparations for the hot season. As with most cool, sweet remedies, honey, sugar water and cool infusions are the vehicles the tradition favours for carrying its settling action into the body.

Good to know

Because the lotus is so strongly cooling, the tradition favours it in the heat of summer and for warm, fiery constitutions, and is a little more careful with it in cold weather or for someone already chilled. It is one of the gentler, food-like herbs, close to the kitchen as well as the dispensary, and the seed in particular crosses freely between the two. Keeping the parts straight is the one point worth repeating: the astringent stamen for a flow to be checked, the petal and flower for cooling and complexion, the seed for nourishment. A classical formula names the part it means, and so should anyone reading the tradition well.

This entry describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of the herb. It is not medical advice, and anyone with a health condition should speak to a qualified practitioner.

Frequently asked

Which part of the lotus does Ayurveda use? Nearly all of it. The flower and petals, the golden stamens known as Padma Kesara, the seed (the makhana), the underwater rhizome and the leaf are all described in the classical texts, each with its own character. The stamen is singled out as the most astringent and cooling part, and the seed as the most nourishing.

Why is the lotus so often called cooling? Because that is the quality the classical writers stress above every other. The lotus is counted among the cooling, complexion-giving flowers and is a leading raktapitta-hara substance, reached for wherever there is heat, burning, thirst or a bleeding tendency in the blood.

What is Padma Kesara? Padma Kesara is the name for the golden stamens at the heart of the flower. The texts treat it as the most astringent and cooling part of the whole plant, and it is the part named wherever a flow is to be checked, whether in loose motions or in a classical bleeding tendency.

Is Kamala the same as the makhana eaten as food? They come from the same plant. Kamala beeja, the lotus seed, is the puffed makhana of the Indian kitchen, valued as a light, sweet, nourishing food, while the flower, stamens and other parts are used more as classical remedies. The one sacred lotus supplies both.