Lakshmi

• 1. Introduction

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  The Rigveda, one of the oldest collections of Hindu hymns, names the goddess Shri about 130 times. The word Lakshmi appears in it exactly once, and there it means only a kindred mark, a sign of auspicious fortune.

  Lakshmi, who is also known as Shri, became one of the principal goddesses of Hinduism. She is revered as the goddess of fortune, wealth, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty and abundance. Yet she does not appear as a figure at all in the earliest Vedic literature.

  How did a cluster of good qualities become a woman with a throne, a husband and temples across India? Why do the old texts insist that her favour must be earned? Why do artists show a goddess of riches holding a flower that blooms in clean or dirty water alike?

  This documentary follows her from the hymns of the Vedas to the lamps of Deepavali, and into other religions that took her in.

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• 2. Names and Meanings

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  The name Lakshmi grows from the Sanskrit root lakṣ, which carries the sense of perceiving, observing and understanding. A close relative, lakṣa, means a goal, an aim or an objective. Together they give the name a message: know and understand your goal. A third word, lakṣaṇa, covers a sign, a target, an attribute, a lucky mark and an auspicious opportunity.

  Her second name, Shri, is the one that runs through Vedic literature, while Lakshmi is more common in the later Puranas. Both names point to the same divine figure, and early texts rarely stress any difference. Some linguists do hear one. Shri suggests general prosperity and auspiciousness, while Lakshmi leans toward material wealth. In Tamil-speaking traditions she is Ilakkumi or Tiru, and Tiru is the regional counterpart of Shri.

  The lotus supplies a whole family of epithets. Padmā and Kamalā both mean she of the lotus. Padmākṣī is lotus-eyed, Padmamukhī is lotus-faced, and Padmahasta is she whose hand holds lotuses. Padmavati is the one who was born from a lotus.

  Other names speak of her husband. Viṣṇupriyā means beloved of Vishnu, and Narayani marks her as belonging to Narayana. Nandika is the one who gives pleasure.

  The Lakshmi Sahasranama of the Skanda Purana stretches her identity much further. It calls her Mahadevi, the great goddess, and Karaveera Nivasini, the goddess who lives in Karaveera, which is Kolhapur. It also names her Mahalakshmi, Mahakali and Mahasaraswati, the primary deities of the Devi Mahatmya. Among its fierce names are Chandi, who killed Mahishasura, and Chamunda, who killed Chanda and Munda.

  Followers of the goddess-centred tradition called Shaktism also count Lalita, praised with 1,000 names in the Lalita Sahasranama, as Lakshmi.

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• 3. Vedic Origins

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  In the earliest layers of the Vedas, Shri was not yet a person. She was a bundle of auspicious states: radiance, beauty, abundance, power and majesty. Scholar Mandakranta Bose describes how these forces were gradually personified as a female divinity. She sees this as part of a wider Indo-European pattern, in which well-being and sovereignty took the form of goddesses.

  David Kinsley likewise sees Lakshmi as a royal goddess of a type found in many Indo-European mythologies. He adds that reverence for Shri-Lakshmi predates Buddhism, since she is featured on various stupa panels.

  Scholar Sukumari Bhattacharji argues that Lakshmi's most enduring early role was that of a provider. She notes a linguistic parallel between the Sanskrit Shri and the Latin Ceres, the Roman goddess of fertility and agriculture, and suggests a shared origin. She also studies a Kushana-era image of a goddess labelled Ommo, who holds a lotus and a cornucopia. In her view, this figure may be Shri rather than the more commonly assumed Uma.

  The Yajurveda collections called the Taittiriya, Kathaka, Maitrayani and Vajasaneyi mention Shri thirteen times. In most of these passages Shri and Lakshmi are treated as the same. The exception is Vajasaneyi Samhita 31.22, which says Śrīś ca te Lakṣmīś ca patnyau, meaning that Shri and Lakshmi are his two wives. The text presents them as distinct yet united consorts of Vishnu, without saying what sets them apart.

  The Shri Sukta sits in the khila, or appendix, of the fifth mandala of the Rigveda. It is one of the earliest hymns devoted to the fully personified goddess, and it may predate Buddhism. It has fifteen verses. The first two and last three call on Lakshmi, and verses 3 to 12 address Shri.

  The hymn pictures a golden goddess adorned with gold and silver, seated on a chariot and linked to elephants, horses and above all the lotus. She is asked for wealth, fame and food. She is also asked to drive away Alakshmi, her opposite, who embodies misfortune, poverty and hunger.

  The Atharva Veda, written down around 1000 BCE, makes Lakshmi plural. Book 7, chapter 115 says that a hundred Lakshmis are born with every mortal body. Some are virtuous and auspicious, and others are evil and unfortunate. The good are welcomed, and the bad are urged to leave.

  The Shatapatha Brahmana, dated variously between 800 BCE and 300 BCE, finally offers an origin story. In its Book 9, Shri emerges from Prajapati after his intense meditation on the creation of life. She is resplendent and trembling, and she carries immense energy and powers.

  The gods are bewitched and covetous, and they ask Prajapati for leave to kill her and seize her gifts. Prajapati refuses. He tells them that men should not kill women and that her gifts can be sought without violence.

  So the gods approach her instead. Agni takes food and Soma takes kingly authority. Varuna gets imperial authority, Mitra martial energy, and Indra force. Brihaspati receives priestly authority, Savitri dominion, Pushan splendour, Saraswati nourishment and Tvashtri forms.

  Her favour, though, is conditional. She allies only with those worthy of her gifts, so she moves among Soma, Dharma, Indra and even virtuous demons such as Bali and Prahlada. That shifting loyalty makes her an inconstant force, attached to virtue and merit rather than to any one person. In the end Shri settles as the steadfast consort of Vishnu, and her importance grew most in the late epic period, around 400 CE.

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• 4. Symbols and Iconography

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  In Indian art, Lakshmi is a golden-coloured woman in a red dress embroidered with golden threads, a colour scheme that stands for fortune and wealth. She sits in the padmasana position or stands upon a lotus. Her four arms represent the four goals of human life that Hinduism values.

  Those goals are dharma, the ethical life, and artha, the pursuit of wealth and the means of living. They also include kama, love and emotional fulfilment, and moksha, self-knowledge and liberation.

  The lotus in her hand means knowledge, self-realization and liberation in the Vedic setting. In the Tantra setting it stands for reality, consciousness and karma, which means work or deed. Because it blooms in clean or dirty water, it also stands for purity in any circumstance. It reminds the viewer that goodness and prosperity can flourish untouched by the evil around them.

  One or two elephants often stand beside her in the Gajalakshmi image, and sometimes an owl. Elephants stand for work, activity and strength, and also for water, rain and fertility. The owl signifies patient striving to see knowledge in the dark. The bird is said to be blinded by daylight, so it also warns against blindness and greed once knowledge and wealth have arrived.

  In some images wealth pours from one of her hands, or she holds a jar of money. The meaning is double, since wealth through Lakshmi is both material and spiritual. Her open hand shows a mudra of compassion and giving, known as dāna, which means charity.

  When she appears with her husband Vishnu, she is shown significantly smaller, which portrays her devotion as a wife. A frequently depicted scene shows her massaging his feet. The pairing implies that wealth and prosperity belong with the maintenance of life, justice and peace.

  Historian D. D. Kosambi observes that most of the Imperial Gupta kings were Vaishnavas who held Lakshmi in the highest esteem. On most Gupta coins she is Simhavahini, mounted on a lion. Coins of the ruler Prakashadiya carry the Garudadhvaja on the front and Lakshmi on the reverse.

  Gupta sculpture linked only lions with her, though the lions were later attributed to Durga or to a combined form of both goddesses. Historian B. C. Bhattacharya cites a Gajalakshmi image with a lion on each side and two elephants near her head. He takes it as a sign that the lion is her vahana, or mount, alongside Garuda.

  The Lakshmi Sahasranama of the Skanda Purana, the Lakshmi Tantra and the Markandeya Purana give her eighteen hands. They hold a rosary, axe, mace, arrow, thunderbolt, lotus, pitcher, rod, sword, shield, conch, bell, wine-cup, trident, noose and discus. She sits on Garuda, a lion or a tiger.

  In Japan, where she is known as Kisshōten, she is commonly shown with the Nyoihōju gem in her hand.

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• 5. Churning the Ocean

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  The devas and asuras, the gods and demons, were once both mortal, and both wanted amrita, the divine nectar of immortality. It could be obtained only by churning Kshira Sagara, the Ocean of Milk. They chose Mount Mandhara as the churning pole, with the devas on one side and the asuras on the other.

  Vishnu took the form of Kurma, the tortoise, so that the mountain could rest upon him. Vasuki, the great venom-spewing serpent-god, was wrapped around the mountain and used to churn the ocean. Many divine objects rose up as the churning went on, and the goddess Lakshmi emerged along with them. Some versions call her the daughter of the sea god because she came from the sea.

  The Vishnu Purana lists what came out with her: the divine cow Kamadhenu, Varuni, the Parijat tree, the Apsaras, Chandra the moon, and Dhanvantari carrying amrita. Lakshmi herself bore a lotus. She had a choice between the devas and the asuras, and she chose the devas. Among thirty deities, she chose to be with Vishnu.

  The Garuda Purana, Linga Purana and Padma Purana tell a different birth. In them she is the daughter of the sage Bhrigu and his wife Khyati, and she is named Bhargavi. Another legend has her float on the water at the creation of the universe, on the expanded petals of a lotus.

  In the Mahabharata, Lakshmi personifies wealth, happiness, loveliness, grace, charm and splendour. The Ramayana tells the ocean story and says she appeared with a lotus in her hand, which is why she is also called Padmā. Some scholars propose that Sri and Lakshmi were originally different goddesses who merged into one figure.

  Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana, and her husband Rama are considered avatars of Lakshmi and Vishnu. The Mahabharata describes Draupadi as an incarnation of Sri. A later interpolation tries to recast Draupadi as Shachi and ties Lakshmi to Rukmini, the consort of Krishna. Scholars affirm that the original tradition links Sri with Draupadi, as the Critical Edition shows.

  The Vishnu Purana, in J. A. B. van Buitenen's translation, calls Sri the mother of the world and describes the pair in matched halves. It says, "He is the Sun, she the light of the Sun. He is the ocean, she is the shore."

  A prayer preserved in ancient scriptures goes further and says that every woman is an embodiment of Lakshmi.

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• 6. Forms and Consorts

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  In Vaishnavism, the sect centred on Vishnu, Lakshmi is more than a wife. She is his divine energy, called shakti, and the supreme goddess of the sect. She assists Vishnu in creating, protecting and transforming the universe. In Sri Vaishnavism, devotion to her is deemed crucial to reaching him.

  In certain parts of India, devotees who want grace or forgiveness from Vishnu approach him through Lakshmi as an intermediary. The two together are called Lakshmi Narayana, and their shared home is Vaikuntha, the spiritual world.

  The Garuda Purana treats Lakshmi as Prakriti, in the form of Mahalakshmi, and gives her three forms: Sri, Bhu and Durga. These forms carry the qualities of goodness, rajas and darkness, and they help Vishnu create, preserve and destroy the universe. Durga's form holds the power to fight, conquer and punish the demons.

  The Lakshmi Tantra and the Lakshmi Sahasranama go further and make Lakshmi the primordial goddess. By their account, Durga, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, the Matrikas and the Mahavidya are all her forms. In the Lakshmi Tantra, she tells Indra that she took the name Durga after killing an asura named Durgama.

  Indologists Chitralekha Singh and Prem Nath say that the Narada Purana lists her powerful forms as Durga, Mahakali, Bhadrakali, Chandi, Maheshwari, Mahalakshmi, Vaishnavi and Andreye.

  In West Bengal and Odisha, the three great goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati are regionally believed to be forms of Durga. Hindu Bengali culture sees Lakshmi and Saraswati as Durga's daughters, and they are worshipped during Durga Puja. Most of India, by contrast, thinks of the three as distinct.

  In South India, Lakshmi appears as Sridevi and Bhudevi, standing at the sides of Venkateshwara, a form of Vishnu. Bhudevi represents the material world, called Apara Prakriti, or Mother Earth. Sridevi represents the spiritual world, called Prakriti.

  The Lakshmi Tantra adds Nila Devi as a third consort of Vishnu. Each of the three has her own hymn: the Śrī Sūkta, the Bhu Sūkta and the Nila Sūkta. The threefold goddess can be seen at the Sri Bhu Neela Sahita Temple near Dwaraka Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, and at the Adinath Swami Temple in Tamil Nadu. In many parts of the region, Andal is considered an incarnation of Lakshmi.

  The Ashta Lakshmi are eight secondary manifestations who preside over eight sources of wealth. Adi Lakshmi is the first, and Dhanya Lakshmi stands for granary wealth. Veera Lakshmi stands for courage, and Gaja Lakshmi for the fertility, rains and food that elephants spraying water suggest.

  Santana Lakshmi stands for continuity and progeny, Vidya Lakshmi for knowledge and wisdom, and Vijaya Lakshmi for victory. The eighth, Dhana or Aishwarya Lakshmi, stands for prosperity and fortune. A temple to the group, the Ashtalakshmi Kovil, stands near Chennai.

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• 7. Worship and Festivals

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  On the night of Deepavali, Hindus light diyas, lamps and candles, inside and outside their homes. Families hold a puja, typically to Lakshmi. The festival of lights falls in autumn, usually in October or November. It spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil and hope over despair.

  Deepavali is also a major shopping period, because Lakshmi connotes auspiciousness, wealth and prosperity.

  Chaitra Shukla Panchami, also called Lakshmi Panchami, Shri Panchami, Kalpadi and Shri Vrata, is another very sacred day for her. It falls in the first week of the Hindu new year, which makes it especially auspicious. Varalakshmi Vratam is celebrated by married Hindu women, who pray for the well-being of their husbands.

  Gaja Lakshmi Puja takes place on Sharad Purnima, the full-moon day in the month of Ashvin, which falls in October. The day is also called Kojaagari Purnima or Kuanr Purnima, and it is a harvest festival that marks the end of the monsoon season. A traditional celebration of the moon, called Kaumudi after the word for moonlight, accompanies it. That night Lakshmi is thanked and worshipped for the harvests. Vaibhav Lakshmi Vrata is observed on Fridays for prosperity.

  Hymns to her are many. Indra is credited with the Sri Mahalakshmi Ashtakam and the Lakshmi Stuti, and Adi Shankara with the Kanakadhara Stotram. Vedanta Desika composed the Sri Stuti, and Yamunacharya the Chatuh Shloki. The Sri Sukta from the Vedas includes the Lakshmi Gayatri Mantra, which begins Om Sri Mahalakshmyai ca vidmahe.

  Short Sanskrit poems and aphorisms called Subhashita also feature her, composed from the 1st millennium BCE through the 16th century CE. Some take the form of a dialogue between Lakshmi and Vishnu. One example is the Puranartha Samgraha, compiled by Vekataraya in South India. Across 30 chapters, Lakshmi and Vishnu discuss niti, right moral conduct, and rajaniti, right governance.

  Her temples include the Mahalakshmi temples of Kolhapur and Mumbai, the Lakshmi Temple at Khajuraho, and the Golden Temple at Sripuram. One of them, the Sri Lakshmi Temple, stands in Ashland, Massachusetts.

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• 8. Stones, Coins and Faiths

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  At the Atranjikhera site in modern Uttar Pradesh, diggers found a terracotta plaque of Lakshmi dating to the 2nd century BCE. Terracotta figurines from the 3rd century BCE come from Vaisali, Sravasti, Kausambi, Campa and Candraketugadh. The Gaja Lakshmi image, with elephants spraying water over her, is among the most frequently found at archaeological sites. A Gaja Lakshmi sculpture from Sonkh, near Mathura, belongs to the pre-Kushan era.

  Coins carry her across borders. Gaja Lakshmi appears on coins of the Scytho-Parthian kings Azes II and Azilises, and on coins from the time of the Shunga Empire king Jyesthamitra. Coins of the 1st through 4th centuries CE from Ayodhya, Mathura, Ujjain, Sanchi, Bodh Gaya and Kanauj all feature her. Greco-Indian gems and seals bearing her image have also been found.

  A rare granite sculpture of Lakshmi, about 1400 years old, was recovered at Waghama village along the Jehlum in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Statues and images in Hindu temples across Southeast Asia date from the second half of the first millennium CE. The Pompeii Lakshmi, a statuette supposedly of her, was found in Italy and dates to before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE.

  In Jainism, Lakshmi is an important deity found in Jain temples. Some of them present her as a goddess of artha, wealth, and kama, pleasure. At the Parshvanatha Jain Temple at Khajuraho she is shown with Vishnu, which suggests that her image was shared and accepted across Indian religions. The Jain text Kalpa Sūtra also praises her.

  In Buddhism she is a goddess of abundance and fortune, shown on the oldest surviving stupas and cave temples. In Tibet, Nepal and Southeast Asia, Vasudhara mirrors her attributes with minor iconographic differences. Chinese Buddhism calls her Gōngdétiān, the meritorious god, or Jíxiáng Tiānnǚ, the auspicious goddess. She is regarded as the sister of Vaiśravaṇa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and as one of twenty-four protective deities. Her mantra, the Sri Devi Dharani, is one of the Ten Small Mantras recited in morning services in Chinese Buddhist temples.

  Japanese Buddhism knows her as Kishijoten, sister of Bishamon. In ancient and medieval Japan she was worshipped for luck and prosperity, particularly on behalf of children, and she was the guardian goddess of Geishas.

  In Tibetan Buddhism she is important especially in the Gelug School, with both peaceful and wrathful forms. The wrathful form is Palden Lhamo, the principal female protector of Gelug Tibetan Buddhism and of Lhasa.

  Far to the south, on Bali, she is closely linked to Dewi Sri, worshipped as the goddess of fertility and agriculture. That is the same farming territory in which scholars see Shri's earliest role.

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