Gajalakshmi

The crowned figure of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and abundance, sits cross-legged on a lotus cushion set atop a pedestal that houses a crouching lion. A pair of white elephants honor her with pink lotuses. Lakshmi mirrors them with the flowers in her raised hands; her lower hands offer gestures of protection (abhaya) and comfort (varada) to her devotees. The artist depicted Lakshmi with four arms to honor her dual roles as Vishnu’s consort and as an independent goddess of great antiquity in her own right. In this modern rendering of a traditional subject, the elephants—which traditionally lustrate the goddess—pose in the manner of elephants at regal audiences, or durbars, associated with the British Raj.