page_title: Annapurna (goddess)
section_title: Iconography
hierarchical_section_title: Annapurna (goddess) / Iconography
context_page_description: Annapurna or Annapoorna is the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment. Worship and offering of food are highly praised in Hinduism, and therefore, the goddess Annapurna is regarded as a popular deity. She is a manifestation of the goddess Parvati, the consort of Shiva, and is eulogized in the Annada Mangal, a narrative poem in Bengali by Bharatchandra Ray. The Annapurna Sahasranam is dedicated to the goddess and praises her one thousand names, while the Annapurna Shatanama Stotram is dedicated to her 108 names.
  A few temples exist that are dedicated to her, the most prominent being the Annapurna Devi Mandir in Varanasi. Since Akshaya Tritiya is considered to be the birthdate of the goddess Annapurna, the day is believed to be very auspicious for buying gold jewelry.
context_section_description: The Agamas (religious texts) describe the iconography of Annapoorna as a youthful goddess having red complexion with a face round like the full moon, three eyes, high breasts, and four hands. The lower left hand is depicted as holding a vessel full of delicious porridge. The right hand with a golden ladle adorned with various jewels. The other two hands depict the Abhaya and Varada poses. She is depicted with wristlets and golden jewelry on her chest. She is seated on a throne with the crescent moon adorning her head.
  In some depictions, Shiva is shown standing to her right with a begging bowl, begging her for alms. Shiva in Annapoorna Stotra described the deity always holding a scripture, akshamala and opener of doors of Moksha in her hands in place of vessel and ladle, indicating his prayer to Annapoorna being spiritual perfection rather than food.
caption: Annapurna with a ladle and pot.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2016:09:12 08:06:16", "Image Artist": "Suraj Belbase", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2342", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "42682", "Image XPAuthor": "Suraj Belbase", "Image XPKeywords": "[109, 0, 111, 0, 110, 0, 117, 0, 109, 0, 101, 0, 110, 0, 116, 0, 115, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "42828", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7810", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:09:10 20:46:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:09:10 20:46:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "22/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF SubSecTime": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "6016", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "42644", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "52", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4136"}