Gajalakshmi

Dimensions: 20cm high, 18cm wide.
Code: CLAY 4121

Vintage terracotta bommai of Gajalakshmi from Tamil Nadu from the 1940s. Lakshmi, who is married to Vishnu, is the goddess of wealth, fortune, love, beauty, joy and prosperity. Gajalakshmi, means Lakshmi with elephants (gaja), the elephants are on either side of her, raisng their trunks to garland Lakshmi. This aspect is representative of prosperity, good luck, and abundance. Lakshmi is seated on a lotus pedestal and in each of her upper hands carries a lotus, while the lower hands are shown in specific mudras (symbolic hand gestures) one in abhya (without fear) and the other in varadamudra (dispensing boons/wishes). Many shopkeepers and businesspeople worship her at the start of each day hoping for prosperity. In some states of India Gajalakshmi is also worshiped as a fertility goddess.

Bommai are figures used for the display of dolls and figurines that takes place in South India during the Hindu festival of Navaratri, which is a nine-day festival celebrating the victory of good over evil. In Southern India the bommai are presented in the home on tier shelves, and friends and neighbours are invited to visit to view the displays and exchange gifts and sweets. There is evidence of this tradition dating back to the fourteenth century. Today, the exhibits are typically thematic, narrating a legend from a Hindu text or a secular cultural issue. The dolls are collected and passed on from one generation to another as an heirloom and new figures are added each year. These terracotta figures are also known as Kolu, Gombe Habba, Bommai Kolu, Bommalu Kolueru or Bommala Koluvu.