Vijaya Lakṣmī (विजय लक्ष्मी) is the aspect of Lakṣmī that bestows vijaya, victory. Within the Aṣṭalakṣmī, the eightfold form of the goddess of fortune, she is the answer to a precise petition: not wealth held but contest won, the successful issue of an undertaking against resistance. Tradition understands her scope broadly, covering war and litigation, rivalry and enterprise, and the inward victories over one's own failings that Indian ethics has always ranked highest.
Iconography
She is depicted in red garments, eight-armed, carrying the discus, conch, sword and shield, noose and lotus, with the open palms of fearlessness and generosity. The martial emblems align her closely with Vīra Lakṣmī, the aspect of valour, and the two are naturally paired in the litany: courage is the precondition, victory the fruit.
Worship
Vijaya Lakṣmī is worshipped with her sisters in the Aṣṭalakṣmī liturgy of South Indian devotion, and invoked by name before ventures whose outcome is uncertain. Her cult also draws on the wider resonance of vijaya in the Hindu calendar, above all Vijayadaśamī, the day of victory that closes Navarātri, when success in new beginnings is sought. In the grammar of the eight forms she completes what the others provide: given source, sustenance, courage and knowledge, what remains to ask is that the endeavour succeed.
Further reading
- Bhattacharyya, N. N. History of the Sakta Religion. Munshiram Manoharlal, 1996
- Coburn, Thomas B. Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Devi-Mahatmya. State University of New York Press, 1991
- Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine. University of California Press, 1986
- Kinsley, David. Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas. University of California Press, 1997
- Sircar, D. C. The Sakta Pithas. Motilal Banarsidass, 1973
See also
This entry was last revised on 31 July 2026.