Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.8

c8.s1.8

Śrī-Lakṣmī, is the consort of Viṣṇu, the cosmic deity, a popular symbol of beauty and prosperity. From the time of the Puruṣa-Sūkta upto now her position as the symbol of a happy home has held the field. She is the Daughter of the Ocean, Lady of the Lake, depicted in art as a beautiful woman standing in a lotus-pond and bathed with heavenly waters by two or four elephants holding inverted jars in their trunks. The elephants are the quarters of Space and the jar is the receptacle of the Waters of Immortality. The waters of the pond symbolise the Infinite Ocean, i.e. the source or first cuase of the universe and the growing lotuses typify the sprouts of life manifesting in visible form. It should be remembered that a symbol develops an expanding meaning and many variations as to form and significance are valid.