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Gajalakshmi: Lakshmi with Elephants
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineGajalakshmi: Lakshmi with Elephants, c. 1890. Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat. Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward, 2003.149
