Moon-blooming and night-blooming lotusses

[Robert A. Hueckstedt]

If I recall correctly, this thread started with the citation of a verse 
from Sanskrit poetry that mentioned a lotus that is supposed to bloom 
with the rays of the moon.  Then the hunt was on to find such a lotus.  
While many night-bloomers are attested, no one has found a lotus that 
blooms specifically with the rays of the moon.  

I think there is a reason for that, and neither the Sanskrit poet nor our 
collective search is faulty.  Remember that Sanskrit poetry expresses a 
stylized world, and one characteristic of that world is that, except for 
the monsoon season some of the time, as soon as the sun sets, the full 
moon rises.  So when the poet says that the lotus or whatever blooms with 
the rays of the full moon, that simply means that it blooms at night, 
because the night and the rays of the full moon are inseparable.

Bob H.

Robert A. Hueckstedt, Associate Professor of Indic Languages
Asian Studies Centre, 328 Fletcher Argue, University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 Canada email: hueckst at cc.umanitoba.ca
fax 1 204-275-5781 phones 1 204-474-8964, 1 204-488-4797