Gajalakshmi

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Gajalakshmi medallion from the stone fence ( vedika ) of the Buddhist stupa of Bharhut , Indian Museum , Kolkata (around 100 BC)
Gajalakshmi depiction on the left pillar at the Dashavatara temple in Deogarh (around 500)
Gajalakshmi at Banteay Srei , Angkor , Cambodia (10th century)
Gajalakshmi from Odisha , bronze , Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(18th century)

Gajalakshmi or Gaya-Lakshmi ( Sanskrit : गज लक्ष्मी, Gaja Lakṣmī = 'Elephant Lakshmi') is one of the eight forms ( Ashta Lakshmi ) of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi , who is commonly regarded as Vishnu's wife , but originally had a completely independent one Identity. The Gajalakshmi image type is one of the oldest and most popular depictions of gods in India .

myth

According to Hindu tradition, Gajalakshmi brought back the prosperity (which is probably also happiness) lost by the Vedic king of the gods Indra from the primordial ocean to earth. Shri Lakshmi herself has been worshiped in India since ancient times as the goddess of fertility and thus as the goddess of luck. In the myth of the whirling ocean of milk , she emerges from the depths on a lotus blossom and is doused with water by four sky elephants from jugs. According to an ancient tradition, elephants were once able to fly, were considered to bring rain (see Airavata ) and were equated with the clouds ( megha ).

Historical background

Elephants are also symbols of royal power, and kings in ancient India were responsible for the prosperity of the state in every respect - i.e. H. both internally and externally. Part of the royal consecration ( raja-suya ) ceremony was pouring water (or milk) over them to give authority and power.

presentation

The depictions of Gajalakshmi consistently show a female figure standing or sitting on an open lotus blossom , who is doused with water by two elephants standing to the side and also on lotus blossoms from symbolic jugs ( kalashas ) that hold them in their raised trunks. The motif is often found in the lintels of temples and house entrances, especially in South India (e.g. in Talagunda ).

It is noteworthy that the first known pictorial representations of the motif are to be found on coins and not in a Hindu context, but in Buddhist works of art - this shows the cross-religious significance of this pictorial theme that already existed at the time. In later times they find themselves both temples of Shivaite as the Vishnuite spectrum of Hinduism as well as Jain -Tempeln (z. B. over the entrance to the cave 3 of Khandagiri Caves ).

meaning

In the almost without exception rather small depictions of Gajalakshmi , both aspects are expressed - the fertility of nature and life in general, which are embodied on the one hand by a woman or goddess and on the other hand by the crumbling and water-giving royal or heavenly elephants. In these representations, which are still popular today as colorful printed images, essential human longings or hopes are addressed or conjured up, which are both significant for the present and extend far into the future.

literature

  • Peter and Anneliese Keilhauer: The Imagery of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism. DuMont, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7701-1347-0 , p. 110.

Web links

Commons : Gaja Lakshmi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Kinsley: Indian Goddesses. Female deities in Hinduism. Insel, Frankfurt 1990, ISBN 3-458-16118-X , p. 37ff.
  2. ^ Jan Gonda: Ancient Indian Kingship from the Religious Point of View. EJ Brill, Leiden 1969
  3. ↑ JC Heesterman: The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration. Mouton, Den Haag 1957, pp. 114ff.