Lakshmi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and good fortune, born, according to one tradition, when she rose from the churning of the ocean of milk.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, and of the traditions that have built around her for over 3,000 years. According to the creation story of the Puranas, she came to existence in the churning of the ocean of milk. Her prominent status grew alongside other goddesses in the mainly male world of the Vedas, as female deities came to be seen as the Shakti, the energy of the gods, without which they would be powerless. Lakshmi came to represent the qualities of blessing, prosperity, fertility, beauty and good fortune and, more recently, political order, and she has a significant role in Diwali, one of the most important of the Hindu festivals.
With
Jessica Frazier
Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent
Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford
Jacqueline Suthren-Hirst
Senior Lecturer in South Asian Studies at the University of Manchester
and
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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READING LIST:
Wendy Doniger, Hindu Myths (Penguin, 2004)
Lynn Foulston and Stuart Abbott, Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices (Sussex Academic Press, 2009)
David Kinsley, The Goddesses’ Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West (State University of New York Press, 1988)
Pratap Kumar, The Goddess Lakshmi in South Indian Vaishnavism (Oxford University Press, 2000)
Sree Padma, Vicissitudes of the Goddess: Reconstructions of the Gramadevata in India’s Religious Traditions (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Devdutt Pattanaik, Lakshmi: The Goddess of Wealth and Fortune: An Introduction (Vakils Feffer & Simons, 2002)
Constantina Rhodes, Invoking Lakshmi: The Goddess of Wealth in Song and Ceremony (State University of New York Press, 2010)
John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wulff, Devi: Goddesses of India (University of California Press, 1996)
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Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Interviewed Guest | Jessica Frazier |
| Interviewed Guest | Jacqueline Suthren-Hirst |
| Interviewed Guest | Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad |
| Producer | Simon Tillotson |
Broadcasts
- Thu 6 Oct 2016 09:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
- Thu 6 Oct 2016 21:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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