Kamala: The Tenth Mahavidya, the Lotus Goddess and the Tantric Lakshmi

Kamala, “she of the lotus”, is the tenth and last of the ten Mahavidyas, and she is the form of the Goddess in the list who is the same as Lakshmi. She is also called Kamalatmika, “she whose self is the lotus”. After the cremation ground of Dhumavati and the stilled tongue of Bagalamukhi, the sequence ends with abundance, beauty and grace, and many readers find the order meaningful. This page covers her image, her stories, the connection with Lakshmi, her temples and her days, as tradition tells them.

Kamala and Lakshmi

In the Mahavidya tradition Kamala is Lakshmi in her Tantric aspect. The two names are names of one goddess, and the same lotus and elephants appear in both. The difference is one of tradition and of manner of worship: Lakshmi is the goddess of the household and the great festivals, and Kamala is the same goddess as worshipped in the Shakta Tantric circle, among her nine sisters. The name Kamala is in fact an old name of Lakshmi in the Puranas and in the Shri Suktam, which calls her lotus-seated and lotus-coloured; see the Shri Suktam page.

The Ashta Lakshmi section of this site covers the eight forms of the household goddess, and a reader moving between the two will find that the image of Gaja Lakshmi, with the elephants, is the same as the usual image of Kamala.

Form and iconography

She is shown with a golden complexion, seated on a lotus that rises from an open lotus, with a crown and a gentle face. She has four arms: two upper hands hold lotuses, and the two lower make the gestures of fearlessness (abhaya) and of giving (varada). Four elephants, one in each direction, pour water over her from golden pots, in the same abhisheka that is shown in the image of Gaja Lakshmi. She is dressed in red or white silk, wears gold and jewels, and is the one of the ten that looks most like a queen.

The lotus is the oldest symbol of the goddess, and the tradition reads it as grace that rises from muddy water, untouched by it. The four elephants are the four directions or the four aims of human life. Her image is a quiet one, and the tradition draws the contrast with the others of the ten on purpose.

The stories as tradition tells them

The churning of the ocean, told in the Puranas, is the story that fits her best, and it is summarised on the Kurma page. Lakshmi rises from the ocean seated on a lotus, with the elephants pouring water on her, and chooses Vishnu. The Mahavidya tradition adds to this the story of Sati, in which she is the last of the ten forms; see the hub page.

A second line of tradition ties her to the old goddess of the Shri Suktam, a hymn of the Rigveda’s supplement that praises Shri as golden, lotus-seated and attended by elephants. The hymn is among the oldest texts on Lakshmi and has been used in her worship for centuries; the page for it is linked above. The Tantric texts give Kamala a mantra and a diagram of her own, which are taught within lineages and are not described here.

What the form means

In the readings that teachers give, Kamala is fullness: the Goddess in her aspect as the wealth of the world, its beauty and its delight. Having come to her by way of the fierce and the austere forms, the reader is told that this too is a form of the same power, and that the ten are one. Some commentators see the list as a ladder: from the dark of Kali to the golden light of Kamala. A plainer reading is that the tradition does not want abundance to be seen as less sacred than renunciation, and that it puts the two in the same circle.

Nothing in the tradition promises riches to the worshipper. The Mahavidya texts are about knowledge, and the name of the group says so. If money is a concern, a plan and a qualified adviser are the practical things.

Where she is worshipped

The Kamakhya complex on the Nilachal hill in Guwahati has a shrine of Kamalatmika, and it is the best known place for her as a Mahavidya; her shrine is often named together with that of Matangi. As Lakshmi, she is worshipped everywhere: the Mahalakshmi temple at Kolhapur, the Mahalakshmi temple in Mumbai, and the temples of the Ashtalakshmi in Chennai and Hyderabad are known places of the goddess. We do not give timings, fees or rules; check each temple’s own site.

Festivals

Kamala’s jayanti is commonly given on the new moon of Kartika, which is the night of Diwali and, in the east, of Kali Puja; see the Diwali page and the Kali Puja page. The night is thus shared by the first and the last of the ten, Kali in the east and Lakshmi across India. Calendars differ, and we give no date. The steps of the household worship are on the Diwali Lakshmi puja page. Dhanteras opens the festival days; see the Dhanteras page. Akshaya Tritiya and Sharad Purnima are other days of the lotus goddess; see the Akshaya Tritiya page and the Sharad Purnima page.

The hymns on this site that suit her are the Mahalakshmi Ashtakam, the Kanakadhara Stotram and the Shri Suktam. Tantric worship of Kamala is not described here.

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