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April 10, 2026
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"...the hymn identifies Sri and Lakshmi as one and the same goddess. Prior to this text a clear distinction was made between the two goddesses."
"In other hymns she is considered the luck and light in men and splendid energy in women. She is firm, motionless, and wide. She is the one who gives nourishment, wealth and love. She is asked to pour milk as a mother does for a son. Her breasts are full of nectar which gives long life, and she is praised as the nourisher of all creatures wicked and good, demonic and divine."
"The features of Sri Lakshmi expanded from the notion of fertility of the earth. Several variations of her name are Lakshmi, Gaja-Lakshmi and Sri Lakshmi. The term Sri is used to refer to the splendour and power of a king or raja. Sri is his splendour and dominion. She is associated with qualities such as power, capability, high rank and glory. In the hymn of Purusha Sukta, a supplement to the Rig Veda, Sri is portrayed as a bright, beautiful and embellished goddess. Furthermore the hymn identifies Sri and Lakshmi as one and the same goddess."
"Vedic culture, which developed into an agricultural and pastoral society, revered both the earth and cattle. More importantly, significant agricultural goddesses such as Gaja-Lakshmi emerged. In Epic literature attempts were made to consolidate couples (Mithuna) and give single females and males individual personalities."
"When Bhudevi complains that she is being oppressed by a certain demon, Vishnu, attentive to the welfare of the earth, assumes the appropriate form and recuses the earth from her predicament. Iconographically it is common to see Vishnu flanked by Sri-Lakshmi on one side and Bhudevi on the other."
"Central among these are the nectar of immortality and the goddess Sri-Laksmi. Sri represents good luck, well-being, abundance, and fertility and is well known as dwelling wherever a righteous king reigns. She is sovereignty personified, and where she dwells there always exist wealth and abundance of all good things."
"She [Sita] is not mentioned very often and is overshadowed by much more popular goddesses associated with fertility, such as Sri-Laksmi. Nevertheless, Sita does seem to be part of a fundamental intuition concerning the fertility of the plowed earth and necessity of a male power to awaken, arouse and inseminate her."
"The divinity of Rama and Sita is not stressed in the early Ramayana of Valmiki (written sometime between 200 BC and 200 AD), but they increasingly become identified as manifestations of the god Vishnu and his consort Sri-Laksmi in later texts."
"Saraswati is also said to have had her origin from the god Vishnu... Her association with Vishnu makes her the co-wife of Laksmi in many myths. In this relationship Saraswati for the most part represents spiritual, ascetic, or religious goals and values, whereas Laksmi represents worldly well-being as manifest in wealth, material power, and fertility."
"Finally, in Saiva Siddhanta, a southern school of Saivism, Parvati sometimes takes on the role of Shiva's embodied grace and thus comes to play a role somewhat similar to Sri-Laksmi's role in Sri Vaisnavism."
"Laksmi is worshiped throughout the year in a variety of festivals, and she is the constant object of vratas, "religious vows," by means of which devotees ask her for a blessing in return for undertaking some act of devotion or piety on her behalf."
"In Pancaratra school Laksmi comes to play the central role in the creation and evolution of the universe as the shakti of Vishnu. In the Pancaratra creation scenario Vishnu remains almost entirely inactive, relegating the creative process to Laksmi. After awakening Laksmi at the end of the night of dissolution, Vishnu’s role in the creation of the universe is restricted to that of inactive architect whose plan put into effect by a builder. Lakshmi alone acts, and the impression throughout the cosmogony is that she acts independently of Vishnu, although it is stated that she acts according to his wishes."