Incomparable Blue Manel

by Aditha Dissanayake

At first there is only darkness. Then, Dawn when her golden finger tips begins to brush the sky above the marshy land on the South of Colombo.

Out of muddy, stagnant water, delicate star shaped petals open to reveal a golden centre. The air becomes heavy with a sweet fragrance? so blooms a blue water lily as it had blossomed 160 million years ago, (during the Jurassic period), as it will continue to blossom till the end of the universe unchanged in its splendor.

"When you look at its brilliance your eyes become imbued with dynamic force. When you breathe in your nostrils dilate" So wrote Horus at the Graceo-Roman temple at Edfu.

Nymphaea stellata to scientists, Nil manel to the average Sri Lankan, the blue water lily is the National flower of Sri Lanka. Also known as nilothpala and indivara in ancient scripts, the flower was declared as a national symbol on 26th February 1986. Buddhists offer the blue water lily as a form of worship to the Buddha, Hindus to Lord Vishnu.

They see the tender blue petals, seemingly reflecting the color of the sky, fresh and beautiful, yet rising from the murky darkness of a gloomy marsh, as a representation of purity amid adverse surroundings.

History reveals the blue water lily has enjoyed an exceptionally prominent place in art and culture in the reign of King Kashyapa (between AD 477 to 495). The artists who drew pictures on the walls of the King's rock fortress, Sigiriya, in the Central Province, made the models hold blue water lilies in their hands.

Some poets who saw the paintings compared the color of the flowers to the eyes of the ladies. In the often quoted Sigiri Graffitti No.24, a poet talks about Nili mahanela nilup ul bala diga nuyana la" comparing the motionless long eyes of the lady to the blue water lily.

The flower was also seen as a symbol of sexuality. Richard Murphy describes it in The Mirror Wall" as "The deep/blue flower that has a clitoris/on a creeper climbing up/a lingam".

Some may find the fragrance of the water lily similar to the smell of a hyacinth, a queen-of-the-night or even a banana! But to the Ancient Egyptians the divine fragrance of the flower was a narcotic used to induce stimulation or a state of euphoria.

Today, pharmacologists' claim that the effects of drinking wine soaked in blue water lilies is similar in some ways to the effects of MDMA (ecstasy). Western scientists also believe that the flower may even have a 'sort of Viagra effect". Sri Lankans too, use the blue water lily extensively in their day to day lives but more for its healing qualities than for its sedative powers.

The seeds, tubes and leaves are consumed as vegetables. Tonics are made to cure diseases of the liver. If at all the Nil manel becomes a recreational sedative in the hands of a Sri Lankan, it does so when it is dried and used to make pillows on which you are guaranteed to have happy dreams.

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