Laxmi

Published on 19th July, 2020, in Mid-day In popular lore, Lakshmi and Saraswati hate each other. Where there is fortune, there is no respect for education, and where there is education, there is no value for wealth. The courtesan's house was the only place where the two lived together: she was well versed in music and dance and the arts, and was admired by the learned and the rich. In festivals, the two goddesses are shown as daughters of Durga. Or, they sit on either side of Ganesha, identified as his two mothers, or his two sisters, or even his two wives, Riddhi (material growth) ..

Published on 7th July, 2019, in Mid-day Once Vishnu and Laxmi had a quarrel. Laxmi left Vaikuntha in a huff, and came down to earth. Vishnu followed her and tried coaxing her to return, but she refused. So, Vishnu decided to remain on earth, until he could convince her to return. He looked for a home on earth that reminded him of Vaikuntha, and found seven hills on a mountain range that reminded him of the seven hoods of the great serpent, Adishesha, on whose coils he rested in the ocean of milk. He made his home there. Today he stands there, as Tirupati, atop ..

Published on 12th November, 2018, in First Post. In the Puranas, Lakshmi has three fathers: Varuna, Puloman and Bhrigu. Varuna is an asura in the Vedas, but in the Puranas he becomes a deva, a god of the sea, source of all water. The Puranas describe Puloman as the asura-king and Bhrigu as the asura-guru. This makes Lakshmi the daughter of asuras. The word ‘asura’ has been given a moral turn in recent times; they are visualised in children’s books as dark-skinned, fat, horned, ugly – the embodiment of evil. It is easy then to assume that Lakshmi’s association with asuras stems from the fear ..

Published on 29th September, 2017, in The Economic Times. When the Vice President recently referred to Lakshmi as Finance Minister, he revealed a popular misunderstanding of Hindu mythology. Lakshmi is the embodiment of wealth, but she is not the one who manages the wealth. We want her in our house, but bringing her in is our responsibility, not hers. She is Finance, not Finance Minister. The Finance Minister, and more importantly the Prime Minister who guides him, needs to be one who knows how to ‘attract’ Lakshmi, in other words, Lakshmi-kanta, or Lakshmi-vallabha, which means the beloved of Lakshmi. In the Hindu Puranas, that status ..