"When many a year had fled,
Up floated, on her lotus bed,
A maiden fair, and tender-eyed,
In the young flush of beauty's pride.
She shone with pearl and golden sheen,
And seals of glory stamped her queen.
On each round arm glowed many a gem,
On her smooth brows a diadem.
Rolling in waves beneath her crown,
The glory of her hair rolled down.
Pearls on her neck of price untold,
The lady shone like burnished gold.
Queen of the gods, she leapt to land,
A lotus in her perfect hand,
And fondly, of the lotus sprung,
To lotus-bearing Vishnu clung.
Her, gods above and men below
As Beauty's Queen and Fortune know." [**]

As noticed in this last extract, Lakshmi, or Sri, is regarded as the goddess of Love, Beauty, and Prosperity. When a man is growing rich, it is said that Lakshmi has come to dwell with him; whilst those in adversity are spoken of as "forsaken of Lakshmi." In pictures she is painted as a lady of a bright golden colour, seated on a lotus, with two arms.

"The name of Lakshmi as that of a goddess does not

occur in the Rig-Veda, though the word itself is found in its signification as prosperity." [**]

Lakshmi is known also by the following names:--

Haripriya, "The beloved of Hari."

Padma, "The Lotus," and Padmalaya, "She who dwells on a lotus."

Jaladhija, "The ocean-born."

Chanchala, "The fickle one."

Lokamata, "The mother of the world."

Footnotes

^117:* "Vishnu Purana," p. 607.

^118:* "Vishnu Purana," p. 3, note.

^118:+ Kennedy, "Hindu Mythology," p. 240.

^119:* Kennedy, "Hindu Mythology," p. 246.

^120:* Kennedy, "Hindu Mythology," p. 246.

^121:* Ward. ii. 14.

^122:* Kennedy, "Hindu Mythology," p. 244.

^123:* Pp. 287-290.

^125:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 63.

^125:+ Ibid. iv. 78 ff.

^125:++ Ibid.

^126:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 98.

^127:* See part ii. chap. x.

^128:* "Vishnu Purana," p. 80.

^128:+ Page 59.

^128:++ Page 80.

^129:* "Vishnu Purana," book i. chap. ix.

^130:* "Indian Wisdom," p. 499.

^132:* Griffiths's "Ramayana," i. 204.

^133:* Muir, O. S. T., iv. 348.