Sri Suktam

This is the hymn’s opening call: Agni is asked to summon Lakshmi in her most radiant form. She is described as golden-skinned, graceful as a deer, garlanded in gold and silver, and cool as moonlight, an image of wealth that is beautiful rather than merely valuable.

The prayer asks specifically for a Lakshmi who stays, not one who visits and leaves. Her presence is tied to concrete gains: gold, cattle, horses and capable people around the household, the traditional markers of a thriving home.

Sri is pictured arriving in royal procession, horses ahead, chariot at the centre, elephants trumpeting behind her. It is a public, celebratory image of wealth, and the verse ends with a direct request that she be pleased and choose to remain.

Here the goddess is gently smiling, glowing, moist with compassion and seated on a lotus whose color she shares. The verse balances two qualities in her, she is fully satisfied in herself, yet she is the one who satisfies everyone else, and asks that she be invoked into the present moment.

The reciter takes formal refuge in Lakshmi, describing her as moon-bright, famed, generous and adored even by the gods. The verse closes with a pointed request: let Alakshmi, ill fortune, be destroyed, and let this Lakshmi be chosen and kept close.

The bilva tree is said to have grown from Lakshmi’s own austerity, which is why its leaves and fruit are used in her worship. The verse asks that the tree’s fruit, empowered by that penance, clear away both inner confusion (maya) and outward poverty.

Kubera, keeper of celestial wealth, and Kirti, the spirit of good reputation, are invited to arrive together with fine jewels. The reciter, speaking as someone born into this land, asks for both a good name and steadily increasing prosperity.

Jyeshtha, described elsewhere as Lakshmi’s elder and less welcome sister, stands for hunger, want and disorder. This verse actively expels her, asking that every trace of stagnation and lack be cleared out of the home for good.

Sri is called through fragrance rather than sight here, unshakeable, always well-fed and richly connected to the fertile earth. She is addressed as ruler over every living being, not just a giver of riches but a sovereign presence.

The request shifts inward: may the mind’s honest wishes and the tongue’s words both be true. Only after that does the verse ask for cattle, grain and fame, suggesting that outer wealth means little without inner integrity.

Kardama, one of Lakshmi’s sons, is invited to take root in the reciter’s own life, since it is through him that she is said to have appeared in the world. The verse asks that the lotus-garlanded mother settle permanently within the family line.

Water here stands for everything gentle and life-giving, and Chiklita, another of the goddess’s sons, is asked to make his home in the house. As in the previous verse, the underlying request is that Lakshmi herself stay rooted in the family for generations.

This verse returns to the compassionate, lotus-loving Lakshmi described earlier, adding that she is forever close to ponds and lotus pools. She is again called the essence of nourishment, gold-colored and cool as the moon.

Lakshmi is pictured here as regal rather than only gentle, moving with the dignity of a royal elephant and carrying a scepter. The golden imagery intensifies, everything about her, from ornaments to radiance, is described as pure gold.

The core section closes by repeating the plea for a Lakshmi who never departs, and this time the list of blessings grows longer: abundant gold, cattle, loyal attendants, swift horses and worthy family. It functions as a summary verse for everything asked in verses 1 through 14.

The supplementary section opens by describing the ideal reciter: someone clean in body and mind who offers ghee daily and keeps returning to these fifteen verses. The promise is straightforward, sincere and steady practice brings the fulfilment of one’s wish for prosperity.

Nearly every image in this verse is a lotus, hands, eyes, seat, home, building a single unbroken picture of the goddess. It ends with an intimate request, that she place her feet, gently and directly, within the reciter’s own heart.

The lotus imagery continues, face, thighs, eyes, and even her origin are all tied to the flower. The verse asks plainly for her favor, naming the reward as lasting happiness rather than any specific material gain.

This is one of the more direct requests in the hymn: horses, cows, and wealth in general, addressed to Lakshmi as the source of great riches. It closes by widening the scope, asking that every righteous desire, not just financial ones, be granted.

The blessing here covers an entire household: children, grandchildren, grain, livestock and transport. Calling her the mother of all beings, the verse ends with a simple request for a long, capable life.

This verse defines wealth by association rather than description, naming it as identical with fire, wind, sun, the Vasus, Indra, Brihaspati and Varuna. The effect is to widen the meaning of prosperity beyond money, tying it to the forces that sustain the cosmos itself.

Garuda and Indra are invited to drink Soma, the ritual drink linked to vitality and divine favor, and the verse asks that its blessing reach the reciter too. It is a request for a share in the same vigor and abundance enjoyed by these powerful figures.

This verse turns from external blessing to internal discipline, stating that anger, envy, greed and negative thinking have no hold on those who chant the Sri Suktam with sincerity. It frames regular recitation as a kind of ongoing purification, not a one-time request.

The goddess is described in her most decorative form here, dressed in bright white cloth, garlanded with fragrant flowers, and seated among lotuses. Called the beloved of Hari and the source of prosperity across all three worlds, she is simply asked to be gracious.

This verse names Lakshmi through her relationships, wife of Vishnu, patient and forgiving, dear to Madhava and to Achyuta, and offers her a direct bow. It is one of the more devotional, less request-driven verses in the hymn.

Known as the Lakshmi Gayatri, this verse follows the classic Gayatri pattern of meditation, contemplation and a request for guidance. Instead of light or knowledge, though, it is Lakshmi’s own grace that is asked to direct the reciter’s understanding.

Three sources of radiance, moon, sun and fire, are used together to describe Mahalakshmi’s brilliance, and the verse names her outright as Ishani, the ruling power. It reads as a verse of worship rather than request, offered in tribute to her combined splendor.

This verse asks for a wide basket of blessings at once, vitality, purity, wealth, grain, cattle, many children and a hundred years of life. It is one of the more comprehensive blessing verses in the supplementary section.

The closing verse names Lakshmi under six aspects, Siddhi, Moksha, Jaya, Saraswati, Sri and Vara, asking that all of them remain favorably disposed toward the reciter at all times. Ending on Saraswati alongside the various Lakshmis ties material and intellectual abundance together in a single closing wish.