Lakshmi or Laxmi in Newari culture is similar to her aspect in Hinduism of India, where she is revered as a mother-goddess, who bestows auspiciousness and wealth. In the iconography of Nepal however, Lakshmi is represented in a Buddhist idiom, adorned with traditional ornaments, wearing the characteristic brocades of Buddhist deities, and with facial features that match the expressions of Green Tara. This glistening copper statue of Lakshmi from Nepal shows the goddess in her Chaturbhuja or four-armed form, wearing the five-pronged crown, silken scarf, and dhoti, with a narrow waist and youthful features.
She carries the Nepalese attributes- mirror and sindoor (vermillion) container, an essential part of many rituals in Newari Hindu culture. Her primary hands are in Abhaya and Varada, the gestures of fearlessness and giving boons respectively. She sits on an ornate lotus throne, with her extending leg balanced by a smaller lotus flower, accompanied by her mount Kurma or tortoise, a part of her iconography in Nepalese art.
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