Alakshmi

Common card · No. 280050

Alakshmi (Devanāgari: अलक्ष्मी; from the roots अ (a): "not" and लक्ष्मी (Lakshmi): "goddess of fortune", figurative meaning "goddess of misfortune") meaning "not Lakshmi" or "anti-Lakshmi". She is described as being "cow-repelling, antelope-footed, and bull-toothed." Or she "has dry shriveled up body, sunken cheeks, thick lips, and beady eyes and that she rides a donkey." Alakshmi is also known as Kalahapriya and Daridara, Jyestha and the shadow opposite of Lakshmi. She is not mentioned by name in the Vedic, Upanishadic or early Puranic literature, but all aspects of Alakshmi match those of the Rig Vedic goddess Nirṛti. She is also said to be the shadow of Lakshmi. In Padma Purana, the cosmology includes her where the Samudra Manthana creates both good and bad of everything that emerges. That which is inauspicious and bad emerges first, more effort creates the auspicious and good, according to Padma Purana. A hymn describing Alakshmi is as follows: amangaḷā pradhā jyēṣṭhā krṣṇa varṇā...

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