Features

• This sculpture represents a damsel carrying a metal pan meant for a lamp and is popularly known as Deepalakshmi. It was around the later half of the 16th century that the DeepaLakshmi statues came into being. The earliest of these statues were conceived at Vijayanagara and Madurai and were in no time a popular artefact of Nayak and Vijayanagara art styles of South India and a little after of Indian art. They were cast both in metal and clay. These statues were votive images conceived for Diwali Pooja and with their lamps kindled were used as auspicious motifs to be worshipped along with Lakshmi, the presiding deity of the Deepawali festival, and Ganesha who removed all obstacles. Initially, such statues were gifted to patrons but later they were also sold like other artefacts both for gifts and personal use.