Mahalakshmi Temple (also known as Aai Ambabai Mandir) is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Goddess Sarvasyadya Mahashakti Mahalakshmi, who is worshipped by locals as Ambabai. Goddess Mahalakshmi Ambabai is the Main Mother of Shakta Sampraday and it is customary among Hindus to visit TirumalaVenkateswara Temple, Kolhapur Mahalakshmi Temple and Padmavathi Temple as a yatra (pilgrimage). It is believed that visiting these temples as a pilgrimage helps achieve moksha (salvation).[1] It is considered one of the three and a half Shaktipeetha’s in the Shakta tradition.[2]
Mounted on a stone platform, the murti of the crowned goddess is made of gemstone and weighs about 40 kilograms. The image of Mahalakshmi carved in black stone is 3 feet in height. The Shri Yantra is carved on one of the walls in the temple. A stone lion (the vahana of the goddess), stands behind the statue. The crown contains a five headed snake. Furthermore, she holds a Matulinga fruit, mace, shield and a pānapātra (drinking bowl). In Lakshmi Sahasranama of Skanda Purana, Goddess Lakshmi is praised as "Om Karaveera Nivasiniye Namaha" means "Glory to the Goddess who lives in Karaveera" and as "Om Sesha Vasuki Samsevyaa Namaha" means "Glory to Goddess who is served by Adi Sesha and Vasuki". They are the 119th and 698th names of Lakshmi in Lakshmi Sahasranama. This is also the description mentioned in the Rahasya of Devi Mahatmya.[3] Professor Prabhakar Malshe says, "The name of Karaveera is still locally used to denote the city of Kolhapur".[4]
History
According to one account, the temple of the goddess Mahalakshmi was built by the Chalukya king Karnadeva in 634 CE.[5] Another account dates it to the Shilahara period.[6][7]
The central icon of the goddess
According to one theory, the temple was originally a Jain shrine.[8][9][10][11] The 12th-century Kannada-langauge poet Brahma-shiva, who converted from Jainism to Shaivism and then back to Jainism, states the Mahalakshmi temple was originally a Jain temple dedicated to the yakshiniPadmāvatī[12] or Chandraprabha.[13] Sheshashayee Vishnu, an octagonal structure closer to the eastern gate, has a panel of 60 Jain Tirthankaras carvings.[14] Jains worshipped the idol in the temple as Padmavati.[15]
The 1182 CE inscription of the Shilahara king Bhoja II, preserved at the Hari-Hareshvara shrine within the Mahalakshmi temple premises, states that he obtained a boon from Mahalakshmi. The inscription records king's donations to a Shaivite matha established by a Brahmin named Lokana Nayaka, within the temple premises.[16]
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