Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c10.s2.1.3

c10.s2.1.3

The disc is conceived as her *Chakra* or *Maṇḍala*, as still known to the cult-worshippers (*Śrī-Chakra-Pūjaka*), which is a kind of citadel of the Goddess *Śrī*, *Śrī-Yantra*, being encircled by a rampart of gold (*Hiraṇya-prākāram*). That which is under the influence of the Goddess within the orbit of her *Chakra* is full of abundance (*Riddhi*), prosperity (*Dāna*), longevity (*Āyuḥ*), and progeny (*Prajā*). This by implication signifies that the range outside her *Chakra* is under the influence of Asuras and beyond the power of her golden splendour, and therefore under the sway of *Alakṣmī* (mentioned in the Atharva as *Pāpi-Lakṣmī*, 7. 115. 4), also named *Jyeṣṭhā-Alakṣmī* here, who is the symbol of *Abhūti* and *Asamṛiddhi*; both sisters occupy the inner and the outer regions of the *Chakra* respectively (*Yā antarā yāścha bāhyā*). In the *Sūkta*, *Śrī-Devī*, Goddess *Śrī* is definitely called *Devatā* (*Śrī-devī-devatā*), a conception popular in the epics where she is referred to as *Padmā-Śrī* (Ayodhyā kāṇḍa, 79.15; *Padminī-Lakṣmī-devī*, Sundara Kāṇḍa, 7. 14; *śarīriṇī padma-rupā Śrī*, Āraṇyaka Parva, 218. 3). The conception of *Śrī* and *Lakṣmī* was so old as the Yajurveda where they are adored as the two consorts of *Nārāyaṇa-Purusha Vishnu* (Yajus. 31. 22). Later on they are mentioned both separately as in *Śrī-Sūkta*, or in the Sabhā Parva (11. 40). *Śrī* and *Lakṣmī* are present in *Brāhmī-Sabhā* jointly or as a single Goddess.