Topic Research: The Women of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

The Women of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata 

Lakshmi, Goddess of Fortune and Wealth
Source: Google Image

I plan on writing about the various women of the two Indian epics for my project. I think I am going to have one goddess, Lakshmi, be the central character in my project creating everything from her perspective. She was not mentioned in the version of the Ramayana I wrote, but she is a prominent character in the Mahabharata, and I do plan on creating a story that includes her in the Ramayana. Below our three stories about her and other women that I could use for my project. 

Lakshmi: Devi of Fortune and Wealth

Story 1: Samudra Manthan

This is an episode in the Mahabharata that explains how Lakshmi came to be. It is one of the best-known stories in the Mahabharata because it details the creation of many instrumental characters of the epic. In the story. Asuras and Devas team up to churn the ocean in order to access the nextar of immortality. The churning turned out to be a very big ordeal, and Laksmi emerged from the ocean during this porcess as well as Apsaras and Varuni. This story is extremely important as it marks Lakshmi's first appearance in Indian epics. It will definitely be used in my project as one of the first stories to demonstrate how she came to be. 

Story 2: Shatapatha Brahmana

This text describes in great detail the instructions for creating altars and performing ceremonies. Lakshmi is described in this text as the goddess of fortune and goes by a different name, Sri. She is a part of a theory in this text about how the universe was created. In Book 9, she is created from Prajapati's meditation and is described as having immense powers. The gods asked permission to kill her in order to take her powers, but are told they should never kill a female. Instead they approach her, and she agrees to give each  god a power. From this story, I can detail each power Lakshmi possessed as this text describes at least 10. 

Story 3: Saubhagyalakshmi Upanishad 

The Upanishads are ancient texts that are dedicated to Tridevi, a trinity of goddesses that includes Lakshmi. The Saubhagyalakshmi Upanishad in particular describes Lakshmi and her representation of true wealth. Although not a traditional story, this text details two other goddesses as well that I want to touch on, and it describes the powers of Lakshmi and her wealth. I plan on using factors from this text in order to further build the character of Lakshmi and introduce the Tridevi.