Goddess Lakshmi
Wooden sculpture from Kerala, 19th century AD
Today Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped here in Karnataka. She is the mother goddess who bestows wealth of every sort: of food, of money, of children, of political power, of victory. As the Goddess of wealth, she is the 'Shakti ' (power) behind the maintenance of the universe. Hence, she is the wife of Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe.
But like wealth itself, the goddess can be very fickle. Here today, gone tomorrow. In order to have Her, one requires learning ( hence she is shown with Goddess Swaraswati ) and wisdom ( hence with Lord Ganesh).
If there is Lakshmi, then there is Kulakshmi also. She is the goddess of famine, drought and poverty. If we imprison Lakshmi, do not respect her, or ignore the well being of economy, we lead ourself to poverty. Thus, black monet is antithesis of a robust economy. We should respect and propagate free circulation of money in order to build a strong economy and a strong nation.
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