Jaipur - Vishnu and Lakshmi - RCIN 1005113

Lakshmipati () is an epithet of the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

deity

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

. It refers to his status of being the consort of the Hindu goddess

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

, as well as being associated with her attribute of prosperity.

Legend

In the ''

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' (; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' () or simply ''Bhagavata (Bhāgavata)'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen major Puranas (''Mahapuranas'') and one ...

'', after the events of the

Samudra Manthana The Samudra Manthana () is a major episode in Hinduism that is elaborated in the Vishnu Purana, a major text of Hinduism. The Samudra Manthana explains the origin of the elixir of eternal life, amrita. Nomenclature *Sāgara manthana (साग� ...

, the churning of the ocean of milk by the

devas Devas may refer to: * Devas Club, a club in south London * Anthony Devas (1911–1958), British portrait painter * Charles Stanton Devas (1848–1906), political economist * Jocelyn Devas (died 1886), founder of the Devas Club * Devas (band), ...

and the

asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

s, Lakshmi emerged from the ocean as the goddess of prosperity.

Varuna Varuna (; , ) is a Hindu god. He is one of the earliest deities in pantheon, whose role underwent a significant transformation from the Vedic to the Puranic periods. In the early Vedic era, Varuna is seen as the god-sovereign, ruling the sky ...

offered her a garland of lotus buds and

Vishvakarma Vishvakarma or Vishvakarman (, ) is a craftsman deity and the divine architect of the devas in contemporary Hinduism. In the early texts, the craftsman deity was known as Tvastar and the word "Vishvakarma" was originally used as an epithet fo ...

offered her jewels to wear, and rivers such as

Ganga The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...

appeared so she could bathe. After these preparations, Lakshmi garlanded Vishnu and embraced him, choosing him as her consort, which restored the natural order of the cosmos. According to the ''

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana () is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into ...

'', Lakshmi manifests herself upon the earth as the wife of each of Vishnu's

avatars Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

on earth:

Hymns

In his position as Lakshmipati, the husband of Lakshmi, Vishnu is offered a number of epithets in the Vishnu Sahasranama: ''Sarva-Lakshana-Lakshanyah'' (He who is distinguished by all the features that define him as supreme), ''Lakshmivan'' (He who is always with Lakshmi), and ''Samitinjayaha'' (The victor of battles). Each of these honorifics is accompanied by a

shloka Shloka or śloka ( , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927).) in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is "any verse or stan ...

. It is recommended that Vishnu be meditated upon as he "Who is the consort of Lakshmi, who has the splendour of the inner part of a lotus, and whose hands are decorated by the ''Kamalalaya''", the lotus that is represented as the abode of Lakshmi. He is stated to have revealed that the

Ultimate Reality Ultimate reality is "the supreme, final, and fundamental power in all reality". It refers to the most fundamental fact about reality, especially when it is seen as also being the most valuable fact. This may overlap with the concept of the Absolut ...

was a ''Dvaya'' (Duality) in the form of Lakshmi-Narayana, and that Lakshmi was as timeless as he was, as the personification of

Prakriti Prakriti ( ) is "the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". It is a key concept in Hinduism, formulated by the ''Samkhya'' school, where it does not refer merely to matter or nature, but includes all cog ...

, which he embraced in his hands.{{Cite book , last=Makarand Joshi , url=http://archive.org/details/vishnusahasranamawithbhashyaofparasarabhattarsanskritengprofasrinivasaraghavan1983 , title=Vishnu Sahasranama With Bhashya Of Parasara Bhattar Sanskrit Eng Prof A Srinivasa Raghavan 1983 , pages=392–394

References

Names of Vishnu

Legend

Hymns

See also

References