Lakshmi sculpture – Somanathapura Temple

I wanted to post this on the day of Lakshmi Puja (Deepavali). But could not, due to several reasons. We will have several reasons “not to do a work” , but not a single reason to complete a work. :-).

Lakshmi, Hindu Goddess of Wealth , is worshiped, on the second day of Deepavali. Not only on Deepavali, everyday Lakshmi is worshipped, because she is the one who gives wealth, money :-).

OK , Jokes apart. Few months back, we visited Talakadu and Somanathpura. It was really nice trip.Somanathpura has lovely temple, which is built in Hoysala style. The main idols inside the temple are broken, hence not being worshipped. I had clicked lots of photos of the temple and the sculptures, which I will share in coming posts. All sculptures are very beautiful, each tells a story. I found , the following sculpture   very interesting.
Here is the photo:

You can see, an elephant is giving support to the lotus. When I asked the guide about this, he explained, the imagination of the craftsman behind this. His explanation was “Due to the tremendous energy of Lakshmi, the Lotus is bending. So the elephant is supporting, the Lotus”. I was really stunned. What a wonderful imagination!. Don’t know whether the craftsman imagined this or someone else had explained his/her imagination to the craftsman. As I understand,for any artist, its very difficult to put some one’s imagination in any form of art/craft. Was the person , who shared the imagination  satisfied with the creation? I had lots of questions, but no one to answer. Do you know the answer?