Lakshmi Statue

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, and abundance, and she is not here for your get-rich-quick scheme. Meet her with clean hands and a tidy house.

A Little History
Lakshmi (also Shri) is far older than your last paycheck. She appears in the Vedic-era hymn Shri Sukta, and later Puranic tradition gives her the story she’s best known for. After the sage Durvasa cursed the gods and drained heaven of its fortune, the gods and demons churned the cosmic Ocean of Milk, using Mount Mandara as the churning rod and the serpent Vasuki as the rope. Among the treasures that surfaced, Lakshmi rose from the waters on a lotus, and she chose Vishnu as her eternal consort. Her emergence is the gods’ fortune coming back, and it took teamwork, patience, and a truly unreasonable amount of serpent. Wealth, in her telling, is something you work for.

She’s usually shown on a lotus with gold coins pouring from her hand, sometimes flanked by elephants. Her vahana (divine ride) is the owl. She is also worshipped in eight forms, the Ashtalakshmi, covering everything from wealth and harvest to courage, knowledge, and victory. On Diwali, the festival of lights, devotees clean the house, light lamps, and invite her in. She’s traditionally honored alongside Ganesha, because money without wisdom is just a faster way to make bad decisions.

Call on Her When

• You’re starting something: a business, a job, a lease, a new venture
• Your finances need a reset, or your relationship with money does
• You want to bring prosperity and abundance into your home
• You’re seeking beauty, grace, or harmony in your life
• Diwali season is here, or it’s Friday, her traditional day

Offerings
Traditional offerings include fresh flowers (lotus if you can swing it, marigolds if you can’t), sweets, fruit, coconut, rice, incense, and oil lamps or candles. She’s said to favor cleanliness and light, so scrub the place first. A dusty altar is a poor first impression.

Details
Cold cast resin. 4 3/4" x 5" x 6 1/4"