The Lotus Root.... symbol of purity..

The Buddhists hold lotus root sacred as a symbol of purity.  It is native to tropical Asia, the Middle East and Australia,  and has been cultivated for more than two thousand years.  By around 500 BC it was being grown in the Nile Valley for its exceptional beauty,  though the poor found greater value in boiling, drying, and grinding the seeds and rhizomes for food.  In China,  evidence of its cultivation dates to the Han dynasty (207 BC - AC 220).  IN INDIA, A GOLDEN LOTUS FLOWER IS SAID TO HAVE GROWN FROM THE NAVEL OF THE GOD VISHNU,  and in China and Japan,  Buddha is often depicted either holding or seated on a lotus blossom.