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Lota (Urdu & Hindi) is an Urdu and Hindi word for a small, usually spherical water vessel of brass or copper used in parts of South Asia.It is commonly used in daily activities like cooking or cleaning to store or transfer small amounts of liquids like milk or water.
It is also used in religious activities like Hindu poojas or for purposes of ablution prior to Namaz. When used for Hindu worships, it is often decorated with sindoor and/or turmeric powder.
Charles Eames and the Lota
Charles Eames was fascinated by the Lota and considered it significant because it has become, over its evolution, exactly right. The design of the lota addresses the need of retrieving, carrying, storing, and pouring water.
Other facts
In the South-Asian sub-continent, where cleaning with water is the usual method for maintaining personal hygiene after defecation, a lota with a spout is widely used as a container for this purpose.
A stainless-steel lota with a spout"Lota" is also a very famous word in politics of Pakistan, because the local politicians are used to change their loyalities with their respective parties to others, only for their personal benifits. Interestingly the word "Lota" is become a pharase or symbolic of shames for those who changed their loyalities.
The word "lota" or the phrase "Bependi ka Lota" (literrally a "lota without a base") is colloquially used in a derogatory manner to refer to a person who frequently switches loyalties. This is because a spherical lota without a base tends to roll over in unpredictable directions when kept on uneven ground. The neologism "lotacracy" was coined in Pakistan to describe politicians who frequently switched parties.
Provisionally used as the term "sajed" many years ago, Urdu language was changed and suited for further fluency. What we then knew as "sajed" is now known as a "lota".In many parts of Bangladesh, the term "bodna" is used to describe it.
