Mahālakṣmī of Kolhāpur
Mahālakṣmī of Kolhāpur is a devī of one of the best-known Śakti-pīṭhas of India. Her shrine is in the south, in the region of Śrī Parvata. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa speaks of her in two places. First, it describes the southern direction itself as always joined to her. Second, it tells of Agastya Maharṣi, who met her on his journey south after he had humbled the Vindhya mountain, and who composed a stotra (a hymn of praise) for her.
Mahālakṣmī in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa
In Chapter 2 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, the Sun’s chariot was blocked by the growing Vindhya and passed over the southern direction. The text then describes the southern direction, Dakṣiṇā, as a beautiful woman adorned with the treasures of the south:
“Even today Devī Mahālakṣmī of Kolhāpur has not left her. Thus the southern direction is an expert in religious rites like Śrāddha.”
So even in the times of the cosmic events told in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Mahālakṣmī lived at Kolhāpur in the south. The line shows that her shrine stood first among the Śakti-pīṭhas of the south.
Agastya’s meeting with her
Agastya Maharṣi humbled the Vindhya and went on south. He came to the region known as Śrī Parvata, or Kolhāpur. There he had direct darśana (sight) of Mahālakṣmī and composed a stotra in her praise. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says:
The ṛṣi felt he had achieved all his objects by directly seeing that Lakṣmī, by uttering whose name a man becomes highly boosted so as not to be contained within anything.
The Kāśī Khaṇḍa mentions this meeting only briefly. It is told in Chapters 2 and 6.
As a Śakti-pīṭha
Mahālakṣmī of Kolhāpur is honoured as one of the chief manifestations of Śrī, the Devī of prosperity. Her shrine is a pīṭha, a seat where Śakti is present in her full power. The Purāṇas place Kolhāpur at the spot where Agastya received her darśana. Agastya is the great ṛṣi who carried Vedic dharma south of the Vindhya.
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6