Mahālakshmī of Kolhāpur
Mahālakshmī · mahā-lakshmī, “the great Lakshmī”
Mahālakshmī 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 Purāṇa speaks of her in two places. First, it describes the southern direction itself as always joined to her. Second, it tells of Agastya Maharshi, 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.
Mahālakshmī 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, Dakshiṇā, as a beautiful woman adorned with the treasures of the south:
“Even today Devī Mahālakshmī 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, Mahālakshmī 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 Maharshi 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 Mahālakshmī and composed a stotra in her praise. The Kāśī Khaṇḍa says:
The ṛshi felt he had achieved all his objects by directly seeing that Lakshmī, 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
Mahālakshmī 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 ṛshi who carried Vedic dharma south of the Vindhya.
Sources
- Skanda Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2
- Skanda Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6