Who Is Goddess Lakshmi?

The goddess of Shri

Lakshmi, also called Shri, is one of the most beloved goddesses of Hinduism. Her name holds auspiciousness, prosperity, beauty and good fortune together: the fullness of a life that is going well. She is honoured in homes, temples and shops across India and the world, and her worship differs from region to region and family to family.

She rose from the churning

The Puranas tell how the gods lost their fortune and the world grew thin. To restore it, gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean of milk, with a mountain for the churning rod and the serpent Vasuki for the rope.

Poison rose first. Only after long labour did the treasures come, and among them Lakshmi, seated on a lotus, radiant. She chose Vishnu, and abundance returned to the three worlds.

The lotus and the elephants

She is shown seated or standing on a lotus, often with gold coins falling from her open hand. In the form called Gaja Lakshmi, elephants on either side pour water over her.

The lotus rises from mud and is not stained by it. The elephants’ rain is the blessing of the monsoon, of fertility and plenty. Her images are devotional, honoured with lamps, flowers and prayer.

Her year

Lakshmi is honoured on Fridays, and above all at Diwali, when lamps are lit and homes made clean and bright to welcome her. In parts of South India, women keep the Varalakshmi Vratam in the month of Shravana. In Vaishnava traditions she is inseparable from Vishnu, and in many homes she is invoked with the Sri Suktam, an ancient hymn in her praise.

More than wealth

It would be easy to make her a charm for money. That would flatten her. Lakshmi is the whole of flourishing: food on the table, a home kept with care, beauty, generosity, honest livelihood and the grace to share it.

Tradition holds that she is drawn to homes kept with care and harmony, and that she does not stay where there is quarrel and neglect. Her presence asks something of the household too.

For women who have given everything

Many women know how to fill every cup but their own. Lakshmi rose from an ocean that had been emptied. She came back. What was drained can be filled again.