Gaja Lakshmi is the fourth of the Ashta Lakshmi. Gaja means elephant, and she is the Lakshmi who is shown with elephants. The image is one of the oldest in Indian art: a goddess seated on a lotus, with an elephant on each side raising a pot and pouring water over her. Carvings of her are found at early Buddhist and Hindu sites, and the picture has appeared on coins, doorways and lintels for well over two thousand years, which makes her one of the best attested forms of the goddess.
This page describes her image, the stories the tradition tells, her worship and her festivals, as tradition and not as promise.
Her place in the list
Gaja Lakshmi is fourth in most hymns, after Dhanya Lakshmi and before Santana Lakshmi. She is in nearly every list of the eight. The name is sometimes written Gajalakshmi, and in the northern tradition she is simply called Lakshmi in her elephant form, without the numbering.
Form and iconography
The classic image shows Lakshmi seated or standing on a lotus, with two elephants at her sides, each lifting a pot and bathing her. This is the abhisheka of the goddess, the ritual bath of a king or queen. In the Ashtalakshmi temples she is shown with four arms: two hands hold lotuses and the other two make the gestures of fearlessness and of giving. Her colour is commonly described as red or golden, and she wears a crown and a rich sari.
The older form of the picture, seen in early carving, often has just two arms and the elephants. The lotus pond below her is sometimes shown with more lotuses. The tradition knows this image as Gajalakshmi or Abhisheka Lakshmi, and it is also drawn above the door of many houses, shops and temples as a sign of welcome.
The stories as tradition tells them
Two stories are linked with the image.
The first is the churning of the ocean. In several tellings, when Lakshmi rose from the ocean, the elephants of the quarters (the diggajas) took water from the heavenly river in golden pots and bathed her, and the ocean gave her a garland of lotuses that never faded. She then chose Vishnu as her husband. The Vishnu Purana tells this part of the story at length, and the tale is also given on the Kurma page of the Dashavatara section.
The second goes before it and gives the reason for the churning. The Vishnu Purana tells that the sage Durvasa gave Indra a garland, and that Indra placed it on the head of his elephant, Airavata, which threw it to the ground. Durvasa cursed Indra, and the gods lost their fortune and their strength. Lakshmi left the three worlds. It was to win her back, and the nectar of immortality, that the gods and the demons churned the ocean. Gaja Lakshmi is then Lakshmi restored, in the form she took at the moment of her return.
We give these as the tradition tells them. Details vary between the Puranas, and no source ties the two elephants of the carving to Airavata alone.
What the form means
Elephants have been the animal of kings in India for a very long time, and they are also the animal of the rain clouds. In the older poetry, clouds are called elephants, and the elephant spraying water from its trunk is a picture of monsoon rain falling on the land. Gaja Lakshmi therefore carries two meanings at once. One is royal standing, a place of authority, a seat at the table. The other is the fertility that comes from rain, which is wealth of the oldest kind.
The reading that devotional writers offer is that fortune arrives through a ritual cleansing: it is poured over her, and it is not seized. The plain lesson often taken from this is that standing and power are best received with humility.
Where she is worshipped
Gaja Lakshmi has a shrine in each Ashtalakshmi temple, including the Ashtalakshmi Kovil in Besant Nagar, Chennai, and the one in Hyderabad. The image of Gajalakshmi is carved in many old temples across India, and in the Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur the goddess is worshipped in a form that devotees link with the whole of Lakshmi. In the south, Lakshmi with elephants also appears on the gopuram and the entrance of many temples. We do not give visiting hours or rules: check each temple’s own site.
The Gajalakshmi Vrat and other customs
In many regions, especially in the north and west, the Mahalakshmi Vrat is kept for sixteen days. It is usually said to begin on Radha Ashtami, the eighth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada, and to end on the eighth day of the dark half of Ashwina, which falls during Pitru Paksha. The last day is called Gajalakshmi Vrat in many places, and the elephant is a feature of the puja: a clay or silver elephant is worshipped, and in some families the elephant is decorated and a family heirloom elephant is taken out. Customs differ by community, so ask your family.
Gaja Lakshmi is also remembered at Diwali, where an image of Lakshmi with elephants is a very common choice for the puja; see the Diwali Lakshmi puja page. Some families give a share of food to a temple elephant, where one is kept, or to the poor. Hymns that praise Lakshmi with royal images include the Shri Suktam, which says that she is attended by elephants, and the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Who is Gaja Lakshmi?
Gaja Lakshmi is the form of Lakshmi shown on a lotus with two elephants pouring water over her. She is the fourth of the eight forms in most lists.
↳ What do the elephants stand for?
In Indian tradition elephants are the animals of kings and of rain clouds. The image therefore points to royal standing and to the fertility that comes with the rains.
↳ What is the Gajalakshmi Vrat?
It is the closing day of the sixteen-day Mahalakshmi Vrat, kept in many regions from Radha Ashtami to the eighth day of the dark half of Ashwina. Customs differ, and many families worship an elephant image on the last day.
↳ Is Gaja Lakshmi mentioned in the Shri Suktam?
The Shri Suktam describes Lakshmi as attended by elephants and gives the image its oldest literary sources. The name Gaja Lakshmi as one of eight forms is a later devotional arrangement.
↳ Where can I see Gaja Lakshmi in a temple?
She has a shrine in the Ashtalakshmi temples at Chennai and Hyderabad, and carvings of her appear in many old temples. Check the temple's own site before travelling.