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Goddess Laksmi (Lakshmi): Origin and Development

by Dr. Upendra Nath Dhal

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In the present study I have tried to present a picture of Laksmi as the appears in Sanskrit texts. In the first Chapter I have shown the original of the concepts like Sri and Laksmi and their gradual development into two divinities in the Vedic literature. The distinct features of these two divinities are made clear in the Sri-Sukta which is appended to the Rg Veda as a Khila; so a separate chapter has been devoted for this. The Puranapancalaksana texts texts which constitute the urkern of the Puranas was formed even before the epic stories were finalised. So I have tried to show the development of the goddess as depicted in the Puranapanclaksana texts in the third Chapter. In the chapter dealing with materials from the epics and the Puranas, an attempt has been made to describe the development of the divinity in a systematic manner with the help of different Puranic legends, due to the merger of Laksmi with Sri, the inauspicious aspect of Laksmi formed a separate divinity namely Alaksmi; so the origin and the development of Alaksmi has been discussed in Chapter five when the Goddess became popular, various religious observances were formed in her honour; the sixth Chapter: deals with the festivities in honour of the divinity. Lastly, the growing Importance of Laksmi in the Pancaratra sect has been mentioned in a general way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Upendra Nath Dhal

Sri U.N. Dhal had his M.A. (Sanskrit & Oriya) B.Ed. and Ph.D. from the Utkal University, Bhubaneswar and teaches in the P.G. Department of Sanskrit, Utkal University on Epics and the Puranas, Indian Culture and religion. The topic of his research was â€œGoddess Laksmi Origin and Development. Apart from being associated with learned organizations like All India Oriental Conference, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute etc. he uses to attend various conferences, Seminars / Symposium of both national and international and contributes papers for discussions. Thus he has got a large number of papers published in various journals of the country and different prestigious volumes etc. as well. His published works include Goddess Laksmi: Origin and Development, The Glory that was Virajaksetra Ekamra Purana. Besides he has certain other unpublished works which await publication. Presently he is working on the Studies in the Ekamra Purana.