Goddess Lakshmi is one of the earliest Goddess in Vedic civilization. Her first hymn the Shri Sukta was added to the earliest Veda, the “rig Veda”, the oldest and most revered of Hindu scriptures. Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune, power and luxury, beauty, fertility and auspiciousness. She is the divine power that transforms dreams into reality. She is prakriti, the perfect creation, self sustaining, self contained nature.

In Tantrik tradition She is “ Maha Lakshmi, the supreme Goddess. The concept of Goddess Lakshmi very much exists in Buddhist and Jain religion also. Not only that, the practice of personifying the beauty and bounty of earth as goddess was prevalent in all ancient cultures. For Greeks she was the corn-goddess “Core”. For the Romans She was “Demeter”. The Egyptians had Goddess “Isis”. Sumerians had “Inanana”. Babylonians had “Ishtar”. Persians had “ Anahita” and Vikings had “Freia”

They all symbolized the timeless mother goddess who nurtures and nourishes all life. The antithesis of Mother Goddess Lakshmi is goddess “ Alakshmi”. The Atharva Veda refers to two Lakshmis. It also provides spells and incantations to drive away the former.

“ Go away, go away Papi Lakshmi
Go and attach yourself to my enemies.
Oh! Savitar,
Use your golden hands
And pluck away this unenjoyable goddess
Who clings like a parasite to a tree”

“Alakshmi brings poverty and misery in her wake. Though she is ugly, she is the goddess of misfortune , nobody dares revile or abuse ‘Alakshmi, for she is Jeystha, Lakshmi’s elder sister. Instead people offer her prayers and respectfully request her to stay out of their lives.