Gajalakshmi: Lakshmi with Elephants
1875–1905
- Medium
- Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper
- Dimensions
- Secondary Support: 60.7 x 42.4 cm (23 7/8 x 16 11/16 in.); Painting only: 43 x 27.7 cm (16 15/16 x 10 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- Painting
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Tags
Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
About
Seated on a lotus in the yoga lotus position (padmasana), Lakshmi (wife of Vishnu and goddess of fortune, prosperity, and beauty) is flanked by elephants that anoint her and express their devotion by bathing her with water from the pot held aloft with their trunks. The lotus seat serves as a throne while the elephants’ trunks form an arch within which she is enshrined.