Nature: Brahma Kamal flower

Hi Good day ppl !
 On the weekend gone by- 29th June 2012, we were showered with blessings to get wealthy ;)
It was in the form of not 1 but 5 Brahma kamals blooming in our garden!

It is said only a few lucky people see it bloom. It brings wealth.It blooms once year only at night & dies by morning.

Brahma Kamal : known as King of Himalayan flower.Botanical name is Saussurea obvallata. The Brahma Kamal is the state flower of Uttarkhand, India.

There were 4 such blooms. 2 more bloomed the next day.

Brahma Kamal, is a species of flowering plant named after Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. It is native to the Himalayas, northern Burma and south-west China. A flower of the Himalayas, that blooms in the alpine habitats at the upper reaches of the mountain ranges between (approx) 11,000 to 17,000 feet. The flowers bloom in mid monsoons (July - August) amongst the rocks and grass of the hillsides in places like The Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Lake at Sapta Shringa.

We did a small pooja of one of the flower.

This flower is very sacred to Himalayan gods. It looks like bliss in the form of a flower. The story goes that once Lord Shiva was in Kailash and Parvati created Ganesha, which was unknown to Shiva. When Parvati went for a bath, she posted Ganesha as a guard outside leaving a word not to let anyone in and that moment Lord Shiva tried to enter the house and Ganesha refused. In anger Lord Shiva cut the head of Ganesha, so there was just the body without the head.On Parvati`s request Brahma created Brahma kamal, with whose 
help Shiva placed the head of an elephant on to the body of Ganesha.

It has a lovely fragrance.

If you look a little closer at the photo, you'll see the central white stamen. People believe that this stamen represents Lord Krishna, while the reddish brown stalks which you can see on the closed bud represent the 100 Kauravas from the Mahabharata. Read more here

We offered 2 of them to our gods in the house. The entire room was filled with their fragrance.

Here one can also see the Brahma kamal which drips water from its petals on to the body like Amrit.
In Ramayan when the Sanjeevani herb was administered to Lakshman, he miraculously revived. In celebration, God showered flowers from heaven, which fell to the earth and took root in the Valley of Flowers. So it is called Brahma kamal, which is The God's own lotus, far from the earth!

There is a belief that the Brahmakamal should be gifted, and not bought in the market. To grow the plant, a leaf is planted in the soil (and not a seedling or stem). This leaf then multiplies and becomes a plant to a height of about 4 to 5 feet. The flower itself is around 4-5 inches in diameter and has a lovely fragrance.

This how the leaf looks.

If you see the small bud like shape protruding from the edge of the leaf, that  might turn into a flower or leaf.

This is a still to open bud of the flower. Check how the stem is coming from the leaf. This flowers always  grows from a leaf.

In the morning it looked like this.

We offered one of the flowers to Lord Shiva.

Note: This flower is confused with Brahma Kamal.In India, we call it Brahma Kamal. It is actually Dutchman's Pipe Cactus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum).

There will be more flowers blooming during Shravan, try to see atleast one bloom :) All the best.

Bye. Tc.