Dhanya Lakshmi is the third of the Ashta Lakshmi. Dhanya means grain, and it is also the word for fortunate, which may be why the two meanings are felt together in her name. She is the Lakshmi of the field, the granary and the kitchen: the form who stands for having enough to eat. In a country with a long history of farming and a long memory of famine, that is not a small thing, and the tradition treats food as a sacred gift.
This page covers her image, the ideas behind her, and the days and places where she is worshipped. It is tradition, set out as tradition.
Her place in the list
Dhanya Lakshmi comes third in most hymns and temples, after Dhana Lakshmi and before Gaja Lakshmi. She is present in all the lists we know, although a few place her fourth or later. The name is sometimes spelled Dhaanya or Dhanyalakshmi.
Form and iconography
She is usually shown with eight arms and a green garment, the colour of crops. The objects commonly listed are two lotuses, a mace, sheaves of paddy or other grain, sugarcane, bananas or other fruit, and the gestures of fearlessness and of boon-giving. Painters and temples differ in the exact set, and some give her fewer arms.
Green is the colour of living things, and the grain and fruit in her hands speak plainly of her gifts. Many commentators point out that her image has no gold at the centre, only food, and read this as the tradition saying that wealth begins with what is eaten. A house with money and no food is poor, and a house with a full kitchen is rich in the first sense.
The ideas behind her
No Purana tells a story that is specifically Dhanya Lakshmi’s, and we do not invent one. The form gathers several older ideas.
The first is the association of Lakshmi with grain and the earth in the oldest hymns. The Shri Suktam (see the Shri Suktam page) asks for the goddess’s presence with cattle, horses and wealth, and a hymn to the earth in the Atharva Veda praises the soil that grows corn. The second is the tradition of Annapurna, the goddess of food who is worshipped in Kashi and is seen as a form of Parvati; the Annapurna Ashtakam is on this site. In many homes the two are felt as neighbours: Lakshmi gives the store of grain and Annapurna feeds those who come to the door.
A third idea is the oldest of all, found across the Upanishads, that food is itself Brahman. The Taittiriya Upanishad says in effect that one should never disrespect food. The phrase is a favourite in teaching about waste, and it fits her closely. The tradition has long linked Lakshmi with the rule of not wasting food, and with the practice of giving a part of each meal to the hungry.
What the form means
For readers who like a meaning, the one the tradition offers is a plain one. Dhanya Lakshmi stands for sufficiency. She is not a call to store up more than one needs but to see that the household is fed, and that the guest is fed too. Many Indian households still keep the habit of offering a little of the first food to the deity before eating, and of never turning away someone who comes at mealtime.
Where she is worshipped
Dhanya Lakshmi has a shrine in each of the Ashtalakshmi temples, including the Ashtalakshmi Kovil in Besant Nagar, Chennai, and the temple of that name in Hyderabad. In farming regions, the goddess is worshipped in the fields and the threshing floor at harvest, often under a local name, and the first of the crop is offered. Check each temple’s own site for visiting arrangements; we give no timings.
Festivals and customs
The harvest festivals are her natural days. Pongal in Tamil Nadu, at the turn of the sun to Makara in January, is a four-day harvest festival where rice is boiled in new pots until it overflows, and the dish is offered to the sun; see the Pongal page. Onam in Kerala, in the month of Chingam, is the harvest and homecoming festival of the Malayali, with a large vegetarian feast; see the Onam page. In the north, Makar Sankranti and Lohri mark the same time of the year; see the Makar Sankranti page and the Lohri page.
In Diwali, the new rice and lentils, puffed rice and sweets that are placed before Lakshmi are an echo of the same idea; see the Diwali Lakshmi puja page. Many Bengali and Odia households keep the Lakshmi Puja on Thursdays of the month of Margashirsha and on Sharad Purnima, when the rice of the new season is offered and the house is decorated with alpana patterns; see the Sharad Purnima page. We describe these as regional customs, and different families keep them differently.
A simple everyday custom is to keep a small pot of rice in the kitchen, or to keep the grain bin clean and covered, and many families treat it as a sign of respect to Lakshmi. It is a habit and not a rule.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Who is Dhanya Lakshmi?
Dhanya Lakshmi is the form of Lakshmi who stands for grain, crops and food. She is the third of the eight forms in most lists.
↳ What does Dhanya Lakshmi look like?
She is usually shown in green with eight arms, holding sheaves of paddy, fruit, sugarcane and lotuses, with hands that give fearlessness and a boon. Images differ between temples.
↳ Is Dhanya Lakshmi the same as Annapurna?
They are different forms of the Goddess in the tradition. Annapurna is the goddess of food in Kashi and is seen as a form of Parvati, while Dhanya Lakshmi is one of the eight forms of Lakshmi. They are often worshipped side by side in kitchens.
↳ Which festivals are linked to Dhanya Lakshmi?
Harvest festivals such as Pongal, Onam, Makar Sankranti and Lohri are her natural days, along with Diwali and Sharad Purnima in the Lakshmi tradition.
↳ Why is Dhanya Lakshmi shown in green?
Green is the colour of growing crops and plants. The tradition uses it to show that she is the goddess of the field and the kitchen.