00:00 The one who is mentioned in the Vedas is the Goddess of wealth.
00:04 To get blessings from the Goddess of wealth,
00:07 this is the Sukta that we get to see in the Vedas.
00:12 God and the Devil decided to go to the sea.
00:17 And from there, 14 gems came out.
00:20 Out of those 14 gems, only one is Lakshmi.
00:23 The king named Indusithyan,
00:26 on the crown of his head, we see a beautiful image of Lakshmi.
00:35 We can also see the image of Lakshmi on the crown of Indusithyan's head.
00:54 Namaskar. Welcome to Mumbai, hosted by LokSatta.com.
00:58 I am Vinayak Parabh, with the second episode.
01:01 In this second episode, we explored the ancient Mumbai
01:04 and also explored the modern Mumbai.
01:08 We are all busy celebrating Diwali.
01:12 Diwali is coming.
01:13 Tomorrow, on the day of Parabha,
01:16 we will see the Narak Chaturdashi and Lakshmi Puja.
01:19 The tradition of Lakshmi Puja dates back to around 2200 years.
01:24 We have the evidence of that.
01:27 Where is this? It is in Mumbai.
01:30 We are at the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangraha.
01:35 We will try to understand where Lakshmi came from
01:39 and how ancient is the tradition of Lakshmi Puja.
01:45 (music playing)
01:50 Friends, we are here to understand how ancient is the tradition of Lakshmi Puja.
02:14 We have with us the curator of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangraha,
02:21 Ms. Mrunalini Pathak.
02:23 Mrunalini, welcome to this episode.
02:26 Namaskar.
02:26 We are at the ancient Pital Khola, near the sculpture.
02:31 We would like to understand how is the Lakshmi statue
02:35 and what is its significance?
02:39 Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.
02:42 It is not wrong to say that she is a Vedic goddess.
02:47 Because there is a scripture called the Shri Sukta of the Vedas,
02:51 which has been mentioned in it.
02:54 It is described in the scripture that she is of gold.
02:58 She is adorned with gold and silver ornaments.
03:02 The description of her is that she is the goddess of wealth.
03:06 She is also known as Godhana.
03:10 The scripture mentions that she is the goddess of wealth
03:15 and that she is blessed by the goddess.
03:20 This Sukta is the reason why she is associated with wealth.
03:26 In this Sangraha, we can see the oldest statue.
03:35 It is the statue of Gajalakshmi.
03:39 She is sitting on a boiling lotus.
03:43 She has a lotus in her hands.
03:46 She has two elephants on her right and left.
03:50 She has water-filled vases in her neck.
03:55 She is anointed with the water-filled vases.
04:00 This is the statue we are going to see.
04:03 Is there anything special about this lotus?
04:05 Is it a lotus?
04:07 The lotus floats on the mud.
04:12 But there is no part of the mud on the lotus.
04:16 This goddess is also known as Lakshmi.
04:22 She is the goddess of wealth, poverty, poverty, poverty,
04:27 and poverty.
04:29 She is very pure.
04:33 She is also the goddess of prosperity.
04:37 She is also the goddess of wealth.
04:40 She is also the goddess of prosperity.
04:43 This statue is also found on the Nanyangar.
04:47 The origin of this statue is that
04:51 the gods and demons decided to travel across the ocean to get the nectar.
05:00 14 gems were found.
05:03 One of the 14 gems is Lakshmi.
05:07 After this, Vishnu got married.
05:10 Vishnu is the guardian.
05:12 She is also a guardian.
05:14 She also takes care of us.
05:16 She keeps us away from bad habits.
05:19 I think this is a statue of a Pital Khura.
05:23 Pital Khura is a Buddhist statue.
05:26 But we can see that Lakshmi is found in all religions.
05:34 Can you tell us about that?
05:36 This statue is from the 20th century.
05:39 It is on the top of the stupa.
05:41 But in all religions,
05:45 this statue is as important as the other statues.
05:49 And it is worshipped in all religions.
05:53 So, if we see this statue during Diwali,
05:56 we can see it during the Lakshmi Puja
05:59 and also during the Dhanatrayodashi.
06:01 It is worshipped on the Nanyangar.
06:04 Correct.
06:05 We are now at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangraha
06:09 in the Mudra Bihaga.
06:11 The Mudra Sangraha is located here.
06:13 I have with me the Swararaj Datar.
06:16 This is the Nanyangar Sangraha.
06:19 We call it the Mudra Sangraha.
06:22 The research assistants here look at the work.
06:26 They will tell us about the carvings on the Nanyangar.
06:32 Swararaj, the first question is,
06:34 which carving is found on the Nanyangar?
06:39 From the 20th century onwards,
06:44 we find the Gajalakshmi carving.
06:46 It is a sitting Gajalakshmi.
06:52 It is found from the 20th century onwards.
06:57 The Gajalakshmi is sitting or standing in the middle of the Gajalakshmi.
07:02 There are elephants on both sides.
07:06 We find the carvings of Ayodhya, Ujjain,
07:11 and Kaushambi here.
07:17 The Indocithian king, Azealus,
07:23 is also seen on the Nanyangar.
07:32 The elephant is standing in the middle of the Nanyangar.
07:34 There are elephants on both sides.
07:40 The reason for this is that
07:44 the carving of Lakshmi is also found on the Nanyangar.
07:49 So, Lakshmi was a great figure and was respected.
07:54 Yes, she was a respected goddess.
07:57 We can see the carvings on the Nanyangar.
08:00 The carving of Kunind Rajvati,
08:05 the king of Amoghbuti,
08:10 is also found on the Nanyangar.
08:17 This is the post-Mauryan period.
08:22 There is a special mention of Nanyangar.
08:29 Suppose there is a Rajvat of the past,
08:36 who started a certain Nanyangar,
08:41 and then the Rajvat changed.
08:48 The Nanyangar of the same style continues for years.
08:53 The reason is that people have a habit of using a particular design.
09:08 So, it does not change quickly.
09:10 People do not accept it.
09:13 So, it changes slowly.
09:15 I will give an example of this.
09:17 In the Kushan period, there is a goddess named Ardoksha.
09:23 She is a goddess of prosperity and wealth.
09:26 We can see her figure.
09:28 She is an enthroned goddess.
09:32 The carving of Ardoksha is found on the Nanyangar of Samudra Gupta.
09:40 This is the early type.
09:43 The Kaalakhanda is very large.
09:47 In the later Kushan period,
09:49 it is found in the third century.
09:53 In the early fourth century,
09:57 when Samudra Gupta came,
09:59 we can see the same figure of Ardoksha.
10:05 We can see the same type of figure of Lakshmi
10:09 on the Nanyangar of Samudra Gupta.
10:11 Later, the Gupta kings come.
10:17 We can see the changes in their Nanyangars.
10:20 But, the changes are gradual.
10:22 They do not change quickly.
10:25 So, they do not change quickly.
10:27 They change slowly.
10:29 We can see the Nanyangar of Ardoksha.
10:33 We can see the Nanyangar of Samudra Gupta.
10:35 It is of the same style.
10:38 Later, we can see Lakshmi sitting on a lotus.
10:42 She is holding a lotus in her hand.
10:44 She is sitting on a lotus.
10:46 She is standing.
10:48 She is standing in the profile.
10:50 She is standing in front.
10:52 So, there are many changes in the form of the figure.
10:54 The changes are gradual.
10:57 So, you can see such changes.
11:00 Later, in the post Gupta period,
11:03 after the fifth century,
11:05 the Gupta kings came to power.
11:08 They came to power in different ways.
11:10 The seated Lakshmi,
11:13 we can see her more often in the post Gupta period.
11:18 We can see the seated Lakshmi sitting on a lotus.
11:24 We can see such Nanyangars in some Rajvati.
11:30 I feel, this was going on for a long time.
11:33 This was going on till the Vijayanagar period.
11:36 Yes, till the Vijayanagar period.
11:38 There are some Nanyangars,
11:40 on which we can see the statue of Vishnu and Lakshmi.
11:43 It is a gold Nanyangar.
11:45 It is a gold Nanyangar.
11:47 It is a very modern statue.
11:51 It has a doll's neck.
11:53 We can see the statue of Lakshmi on the coins.
11:56 We use it for the Lakshmi puja.
11:58 It is a gold Nanyangar.
12:00 We can see the Nanyangars on it.
12:03 So, I feel, this is a very natural combination.
12:10 Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, prosperity, and wealth,
12:15 sitting on a Nanyangar is very natural.
12:20 You have studied Nanak Shastra.
12:22 You work in the Nanyangar Sangraha,
12:24 the Modara department.
12:26 Which is your favourite Nanyangar?
12:29 My favourite Nanyangar is the Gupta period.
12:33 It is made of gold.
12:35 Yes, it is made of gold.
12:37 I cannot choose one particular one.
12:43 But the Gupta Nanyangars,
12:45 which have the statue of Lakshmi,
12:48 are very beautiful.
12:50 I like them.
12:52 Thank you very much,
12:54 for sharing with us the special aspect of the Gospam Mumbai.
12:57 Friends, we have understood the tradition of Lakshmi Puja
13:01 is very ancient.
13:03 The tradition of 2200 years,
13:06 we can see it in the ancient times.
13:08 It may be in the sculptures,
13:10 or it may be the Nanyangars on Lakshmi.
13:13 I feel, because of this Diwali,
13:16 because of this Lakshmi Puja,
13:18 we have understood the tradition of Lakshmi.
13:22 It is very useful.
13:24 To understand such important things,
13:27 keep watching Gospam Mumbai.
13:29 Don't forget to subscribe to Lok Sabha Live YouTube channel.
13:33 Not only subscribe,
13:35 but also like and share with your friends.
13:39 Thank you.
13:41 Copyright © 2020, New Thinking Allowed Foundation
13:46 (upbeat music)
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