The Sri Suktam is the oldest hymn to Lakshmi in the tradition, and it is more interesting than its reputation. It is recited for prosperity — that much is accurate — but read closely it asks for something broader and stranger: for Sri as the quality of auspiciousness itself, for the removal of her opposite, and for a prosperity described almost entirely in terms of cattle, grain, horses and offspring rather than gold.
🌸 Sri Suktam at a Glance
Source: a khila — an appendix — to the Rig Veda, not part of the Samhita proper
Extent: commonly 15 or 16 verses, with variation between traditions
Opens: hiraṇya-varṇāṁ hariṇīm — golden-hued, tawny
Asks for: cattle, grain, servants, horses, offspring — and the removal of Alakshmi
Recited on: Fridays, Diwali, Varalakshmi Vratam, Sri Sukta homa
Paired with: the Purusha, Narayana and Vishnu Suktas in formal puja
📑 Table of Contents
📜 What It Actually Is
The Sri Suktam is a khila — a supplementary hymn attached to the Rig Veda rather than part of the Samhita itself. The distinction matters for how it is described: it is Vedic in language and in ritual use, and it is not one of the numbered suktas of the ten mandalas.
The hymn's opening establishes its imagery — gold, deer-coloured, garlanded with silver and gold, moon-like, and above all the lotus: padma-sthitām, padma-varṇām, puṣhkariṇīm. Lakshmi standing on a lotus, of the colour of a lotus, holding lotuses, and bathed by elephants — the iconography of Gaja-Lakshmi — is set here.
🌾 What It Asks For
The requests are worth listing plainly, because they are not what most people assume:
| Asked for | Sanskrit |
|---|---|
| Cattle and horses | gām aśhvaṁ |
| Servants and dependants | puruṣhān |
| Sons and descendants | prajāṁ, putra-lābham |
| Food and grain | annaṁ, dhānya |
| Fame and prosperity | yaśhas, śhriyam |
| Long life | āyuṣh |
| Freedom from hunger and thirst | kṣhut-pipāsā-malāṁ … nāśhayāmy aham |
📌 The removal of Alakshmi
One of the hymn's most distinctive moves: it asks not only for Sri but explicitly for the banishing of her elder sister — Alakshmi, also called Jyeshtha, the personification of misfortune, hunger, thirst and squalor. The request is to drive out alakshmi from the dwelling.
The pairing is theologically pointed: prosperity is not treated as an additive good but as something that occupies a place misfortune would otherwise hold. You cannot simply add Sri; something has to leave.
🕯️ How It Is Used
In practice
- Days: Friday above all; also on Diwali for Lakshmi Puja, at Varalakshmi Vratam, and on Akshaya Tritiya.
- Sri Sukta homa: the hymn recited with offerings into fire, commonly with bilva leaves or lotus, and often in counts of 1,008 or a fixed multiple.
- With abhisheka: recited while bathing the image of Lakshmi, in the same manner as the Purusha Suktam.
- In sequence: conventionally recited with the Purusha Suktam, Narayana Suktam and Vishnu Suktam in a formal puja — Sri is not worshipped apart from Narayana in the Vaishnava sequence.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Sri Suktam part of the Rig Veda?
It is a khila — a supplementary hymn attached to the Rig Veda rather than part of the Samhita itself. It is Vedic in language and ritual use, but not one of the numbered suktas of the ten mandalas. Versions give 15, 16 or more verses, with the additional ones varying by tradition.
What does the Sri Suktam actually ask for?
Cattle and horses, servants, sons, food and grain, fame, prosperity and long life — notably concrete and agricultural rather than about gold. It also asks explicitly for the banishing of Alakshmi, also called Jyeshtha, the personification of misfortune, hunger, thirst and squalor.
Who is Alakshmi?
The personification of misfortune, hunger, thirst and squalor, also called Jyeshtha and described as Lakshmi's elder sister. The Sri Suktam asks for her to be driven from the dwelling. The pairing is pointed: prosperity is not an additive good but something that occupies a place misfortune would otherwise hold.
When is the Sri Suktam recited?
Friday above all; also Diwali, Varalakshmi Vratam and Akshaya Tritiya. Used in the Sri Sukta homa with offerings into fire, often in counts of 1,008, and during abhisheka. Conventionally recited in sequence with the Purusha, Narayana and Vishnu Suktas — Sri is not worshipped apart from Narayana in the Vaishnava sequence.
🙏 Conclusion
The Sri Suktam is a hymn about prosperity that spends its verses on cattle, grain, children and long life, and asks as urgently for misfortune to leave as for fortune to arrive. Its imagery gave the tradition the Gaja-Lakshmi it still paints — a woman on a lotus, holding lotuses, bathed by elephants — and its structure makes a quiet point that the later Lakshmi literature keeps: that Sri is not something added to a life, but something that occupies a place from which its opposite has been asked to go.