POETRY KAHLIL GIBRAN: Ashtalakshmi Temple, Chennai

Goddess Mahalakshmi

Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.

Public Domain, from Wikimedia Commons.

Recently I went to lunch at a flat on Elliot’s Beach, Besant Nagar, Chennai. A soothing sea breeze was blowing in from the Bay of Bengal. I walked up to the balcony and looked out, and saw a stunning temple right on the beach.

The Ashtalakshmi Temple, I was told.

I was fascinated by the structure which highlighted several features of the Dravidian temple architecture. It is a comparatively new temple, built in 1976. Within the short span of three decades this shrine has become a tourist attraction in Chennai.

At that time, the Ashtalakshmi Temple was the only one to house Goddess Mahalakshmi’s eight manifestations – Adilakshmi (The First manifestation of Lakshmi), Dhanyalakshmi (Granary wealth), Dhairyalakshmi (Wealth of courage), Gajalakshmi (Elephants, symbols of wealth), Santanalakshmi (Wealth of continuity, progeny), Vijayalakshmi (Wealth of victory), Vidyalakshmi (Wealth of knowledge and education), and Dhanalakshmi (Monetary wealth). [Source: Wikipedia.]

Also worshipped here are Sri Hanuman, Sri Guruvayoorappan and Sri Ganesha. The Deepavali, Navaratri and Pongal festivals are celebrated with fervor

The Ashtalakshmi Temple has four levels on which the deities are installed. This is something rare.

Chennai Ashtalakshmi Temple’s claim to uniqueness as the lone location where all the eight forms of Goddess Mahalakshmi are displayed was lost in 1996. That year an Ashtalakshmi Temple was built in Hyderabad.

I was about to take some photos of the Ashtalakshmi Temple from the balcony when KO Isaac, President of the Madras Photographic Society, who was there with me offered to do that. Some of the pictures he captured on his camera are given below: