PATRALATA

decorative motif in Indian art, consisting of a lotus rhizome (underground plant stem). A cosmology that identifies water as the source of all life had a great influence on early Indian art, and, of its visual symbols, the lotus is the most important and has been a dominant motif in Indian decoration from the earliest times. The patralata, with flowers issuing from a central undulating stem, is found carved on monuments at Bh arhut (2nd century BC) and Sanchi (1st century BC). Relatively naturalistic in the earlier monuments, the motif was progressively stylized, finally culminating in rich, foamlike foliated scrolls that have little resemblance to the lotus plant. The patralata also appears in the Islamic art of India, in which it is assimilated to the arabesque motif.