Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Flight of Gods 15. Mahalakshmi Temple, Bandodem

The Flight of Gods
by Mohan PaiShri Mahalakshmi Temple
Bandodem
Shri Mahalaxmi temple is situated at Bandode 4 kms east of Ponda town. This is an ancient temple. The Southern Silaharas and the Kadambas of Goa were the worshippers of the deity.
Silver filigree work - entrance to garbhagriha - photo by Mohan Pai
This is an ancient temple and a stone inscriptionof the year 1413 AD at the Nagueshi templementions the donations made to the temple ofShri Mahalaxmi by one Main Shenoy duringthe Vijayanagar period.
The Mantap - photo by Mohan Pai
There was another temple of Shri Mahalaxmiat Kolva (Salcete) but it was destroyed by the Portugese in the 16th century and the idol was shifted to the already existing temple at Bandode.The Temple - photo by Mohan Pai
Shri Mahalaxm is believed to be an incarnation of Adishakti and is worshipped by Gaud Sarswats who belong to the Shakti cult.
The special feature of the deity is that she wears Lingam, a symbol of Shiva on her head. The Sabha Mantap has a series of 24 carved and brightly painted wooden panels that show scenes from the Bhagwat Purana.

Deepasthamba - photo by Mohan Pai

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3 comments:

  1. Hello Sir,Thanks the pics are wondeful& the information provided is excellent.

    THANKS.
    Keerthi

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found this as common imstake in almost all blogs and i feel sad and bit angered also.

    MahaLaxmi is supreme trignatmika Goddess. she is Mool shakti. She is not consort of Lord Vishnu. Goddess laxmi is his consort. Here "Maha" is not adjective.

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  3. and one request, can i have clear picture of goddess. No where i am able to find out pic of Goddess Mahalaxmi as described in Devi Mahatmyam. Here the picture is almost same. where goddess have a "naag, ling and yoni" on head on hands she has matulung, gada, dhaal, and paan patra.

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