Alakshmi

*Best; Eldest; First; Senior Wife*

**Also known as:** Jyestha

**Origin:** India

Official story: Lakshmi is the spirit of joy, wealth, fertility, happiness, and abundance. Alakshmi is her older sister, alter ego, companion, and antithesis. She brings the opposite of Lakshmi’s desired gifts: poverty, unhappiness, want, and sterility. Jealousy and envy follow in her wake.

Alternative history: Alakshmi predates Lakshmi in southern India, and as late as the ninth century CE, she was a very popular, beloved deity. Hidden in the official story may be a protest against the Aryan domination of southern India. As Lakshmi’s fortunes increased, those of Alakshmi declined. Her image is now kept tucked away in a corner, if it is kept at all, turned to the wall or facedown lest it attract misfortune, poverty, and death. Yet wives are still recommended to propitiate her daily.

Hindu legend says that Alakshmi dressed in red rose from the sea of churning milk before Lakshmi emerged. Her hair is matted like an ascetic’s (or in the context of traditional Hindu culture, in the manner of a woman uninterested in pleasing a man). Her cheeks are sunken; her breasts are shrivelled.

Lakshmi married Vishnu; Alakshmi was given in marriage to a Brahman ascetic. It wasn’t a good match. The sounds and sights of Vedic worship aggravated Alakshmi so much she clapped her hands over her ears. She refused to accompany him to the forest where he wished to live, devoting himself completely to spirituality. Her angry husband abandoned Alakshmi in a place where local (non-Vedic) spirits were worshipped and heretical rituals practised, ordering her to support herself on offerings from female devotees and stay away from places where Brahmans live and pray.

* Propitiate Alakshmi if you suffer from misfortune and strife and wish her to remove it.
* Men who desire prosperous wives and children as well as their own personal wealth are advised to honour her.
* Women petition her for fertility and protection.
* Merchants tie offerings of lemons and green chiles outside their stores to simultaneously propitiate Alakshmi and prevent her from entering their establishment.

There’s a bit of a fear factor here: if you don’t petition her, she may give you what you don’t want. However, Alakshmi is also renowned for sweeping obstacles from the paths of devotees.

**Manifestations:** If Lakshmi is the epitome of beauty, then Alakshmi is her opposite. Descriptions of her appearance vary, dependent on whatever the person describing her perceives as unattractive. She is sometimes described as “elephant-faced.”

**Iconography:** A large, thickly built, plain woman dressed in red or blue-black garments, seated on a chair or throne. Her iconography belies her legend: although not alluringly beautiful, neither is she horrible to look at. She may hold one hand in the gesture (mudra), dispelling fear and offering protection; wear a jewelled crown; and display a red tilaka mark on her forehead indicating that she is married.

**Attributes:** Broom; water pot

**Flower**: Lotus

**Mounts**: Donkey; ass

**Birds:** A crow or owl, perceived as a bird of misfortune. Lakshmi is often depicted with an owl hovering near: that owl is Alakshmi.

**Colours:** Red, black

**Metal**: Iron

**Offerings:** Women desiring children, grandchildren, and/or wealth are advised to feed Alakshmi daily, giving her offerings of their own meal after they have fed their husbands but before they themselves have eaten. She prefers sour, pungent, and astringent foods.

**See Also:** Lakshmi; Manasa; Sita; Vishnu

## Information Source

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes