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++ 122 the Mah膩y膩no-pantheon. Dr. Chatterji writing on these goddesses
in the Far East has connected them with their Indian counterpart
Sri or Lak峁�mi. These are goddesses of plenty and beauty?
Almost everywhere the figures corresponding to Laksmi hold a
sheaf of corn, or the Greek cornucopia in her hand, as Dr. Chatterji.
found in the case of the Indo-Chinese figure.
The hymn to Sri also mentions two objects that come to be
consistently associated with 艣ri throughout her history, the
lotus and the elephant. She is seated on a lotus, is the colour
of a lotus (V 4), appears like a lotus (V 5) is covered with
lotuses and wears a garland of lotuses (V 14). Throughout her
history, in fact, Sri-Lakemi is often called Padma and Kamala
"lotus". The popularity of the lotus in Indian art and icono-
graphy, both Buddhist and Hindu, suggests a complex and multivalent
meaning associated with the lotus.
As expressive of Sri-Laksmi's nature, two general meanings
seem apparent. Firstly, the lotus is a symbol of fertility and
life which is rooted in and takes its strength from the primordial
waters? Her association with the lotus, a symbol of fertility
again establishes her as a mother-goddess.
The lotus symbolises
vegetative growth that has distilled the life-giving power of
i
2 Dr. S.K. Chatterji, "A Brahmanical deity in Indo-China and
滨苍诲辞苍别蝉颈补鈥�.
3 F.D.K. Bosch, "The Golden Germ" Gravenhage : Mouton, 1960,
pp. 81-82.