Goddess Lakṣmi as Gajalakṣmi
Canto 8 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa describes the emergence of the Goddess Lakṣmi as a youth of exquisite beauty from the churning of the ocean of milk. So magnificent was her beauty that it captivated the Gods, and as soon as She emerged from the water, Indra, the King of the heavens brought a opulent āsanam for the Goddess of fortune to be seated upon. All the rivers of sacred water, such as the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, personified themselves, and brought pure water in golden loṭas to lustrate the mother Lakṣmī. The great sages then performed an abhiṣeka for the goddess in accordance with Vedic prescriptions. Thereafter, the aṣṭadiggaja (the eight great elephants that guard the eight directions) carried water jugs full of water from the Gaṅga and lustrated the goddess to the accompaniment of Vedic mantras being chanted by learned brāhmaṇas. As She was being bathed, She stood with a lotus flower in her hand, and appeared auspicious and beautiful. The ocean, which is the source of all valuable jewels, supplied auspicious yellow silken garments. Varuṇa presented to her a garland of lotuses, around which six-legged bumblebees, drunken with honey, still hovered. Viśvakarmā offered various elaborate ornaments, Goddess Sarasvatī supplied a hāram, Brahmā supplied a lotus, and the inhabitants of Nāgaloka supplied a pair of earrings. Thereafter, mother Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, having been properly propitiated with an auspicious ceremony, holding in her hand a garland of lotus flowers surrounded by humming bumblebees, smiled with shyness, augmenting her natural beauty. Her two breasts, situated over a very slender waist, were covered in sandalwood paste and kuṅkuma. As she moved about, her anklets jingled softly, and the Goddess of fortune appeared as a creeper of gold. Lakṣmi took her eternal place on the bosom of Lord Nārāyaṇa, worthy of Her as the overseer of the three worlds. From her rightful place, the Goddess of fortune, by her auspicious and merciful glance, can increase the opulence of all the three worlds, along with all their inhabitants. Lord Brahmā, Śiva, the great sage Aṅgirā, and others chanted mantras and showered the pair with flowers. All the demigods, along with the prajāpatis and their descendants, being blessed by Lakṣmī’s glance upon them, were immediately enriched with goodness and transcendental qualities. The timelessness of this imagery lives on as the iconography of Gajalakṣmi, which has endured for millennia and finds expression in a multitude of ways throughout time and space.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa
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