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Mahesh

12/11/23 14:33 PM IST

Goddess Lakshmi, from the Vedas to the modern masters of Indian painting

In News
  • Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, prosperity, and good fortune, is believed to roam the earth on Diwali, and is welcomed into homes by devotees around the country.
Representations of Lakshmi in History
  • The Rig Veda mentions Lakshmi once, in the context of a ‘sign of good fortune’, and by the time of the Atharva Veda (c. 1000 BCE), the Goddess had developed a fairly evolved personality.
  • Lakshmi is often called Sri, and Sri Lakshmi is a reference to the Goddess.
  • The Indologist A L Basham’s magisterial ‘The Wonder That Was India’ says that the “Goddess of good luck and temporal blessing” is said in some legends to be “coexistent with Vishnu, but according to others she appeared in her full beauty, like Aphrodite, at the churning of the primeval ocean”.
  • The latter legend is associated with Vishnu’s ‘Kurma’ (Tortoise) avatar.
  • Lakshmi is “usually portrayed as a woman of mature beauty, seated on a lotus and often with a lotus in her hand, attended by two elephants, who sprinkle water on her from their trunks”.
  • Coins from Gandhara dated to the first century BCE show Lakshmi standing on a lotus, flanked by two elephants.
  • Coins from around the same period found in Ayodhya, Kaushambi, and Ujjayini depict her as Gaja Lakshmi.
  • By the Gupta period (4th to the 6th centuries CE), Lakshmi was held in the highest esteem. She appears on numerous coins from the period, including occupying the throne, and seated on a lion as ‘Simha-vahini’.
Depiction of Laxmi
  • Lakshmi is universally seen as embodying beauty and prosperity, and the association of the lotus with her is one of the defining features of the iconography of the Goddess.
  • The lotus appears as an emblem of purity and enlightenment.
  • The most widespread representation of the Goddess today is as Gaja Lakshmi, seated or standing on a lotus and/ or with the flower in her hand, and with the elephants.
  • In North India, coins often flow from one of her four hands, signifying material and spiritual wealth.
  • Across Eastern India, Lakshmi bestows eight specific types of blessings, known collectively as Ashta Lakshmi — these include Adi Lakshmi, who helps people fulfill their goals through wealth; Veera Lakshmi who, as symbols of bravery carries a discus, bow, arrow, and sword; and Santana Lakshmi, who holds a baby as a symbol of fertility.
  • In South India, Tanjore paintings most often have her seated on her golden couch, with lotuses and Gajas.
  • In West Bengal, where she is worshipped a couple of days after Vijaya Dashami (Diwali in Bengal is celebrated as Kali Puja), the Goddess is usually seen with her ‘vahan’, a snowy owl.
Source- Indian Express

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