Laxmi (also Lakshmi, or Shri) is the Hindu goddess of wealth, good fortune and beauty, and the wife of Vishnu. In Nepal she is worshipped above all on Laxmi Puja, the third night of Tihar, the festival of lights, when houses are cleaned and lit with lamps to welcome her.
How she is shown
- Seated or standing on a lotus, usually pink. The lotus, which rises clean from muddy water, stands for purity, and she often holds lotuses in her hands as well.
- Four arms, often read as the four aims of life: right conduct, prosperity, pleasure and liberation.
- Gold coins pouring from an open hand, or a pot of riches: the wealth she gives.
- Golden skin and red silks worked with gold, with a crown and jewels.
- Elephants, in the form called Gaja Lakshmi: two elephants raise their trunks to pour water over her.
- An owl, her mount, in some images.
The story
When the gods and demons churned the ocean of milk for the nectar of immortality, Laxmi rose from the waters and chose Vishnu as her husband. She is said to accompany him in each of his incarnations: as Sita, for example, she is the wife of Rama.
Laxmi in Nepal
Tihar lasts five days in October or November. The third day falls on the new moon of the month of Kartik: families worship cows in the morning and Laxmi in the evening. Oil lamps are set at doors and windows, because the goddess is said not to visit a dark house. She is honoured again at Kojagrat Purnima, the full moon that ends Dashain, when people traditionally stay awake through the night. Among Buddhists in Nepal and Tibet, a similar place is held by wealth deities such as Jambhala and the goddess Vasudhara, who is especially loved by the Newar Buddhists of the Kathmandu Valley.
In a painting
A goddess on a lotus, with lotuses in her raised hands and coins falling from her lower hand, is Laxmi. Look for a serene, full face, smooth golden skin, lotus petals shaded from deep pink to pale, and coins painted one by one rather than as a blur. Don't confuse her with Saraswati, goddess of learning, who holds a vina and sits by a swan. Some of our paintings show Laxmi on a large pink lotus, with layered haloes behind her and an offering of jewels at her feet. Laxmi is a popular gift for a new home or a new business, as a wish for prosperity.
