In India, Lakshmi or Laxmi is the goddess of wealth, light and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. Representations of Lakshmi (or Shri) are found in Jain and Buddhist monuments, in addition to Hindu temples.

In Puranic Hinduism Lakshmi is the Mother of the Universe and Vishnu's Shakti. Lakshmi is married to Vishnu, and also married his incarnations Rama (in her incarnation as Sita), Krishna (as Rukmini) and Venkateshwara (as Padmavati.) Lakshmi has a son named Kama. In Hinduism, money or wealth is considered to be a form of the Goddess Lakshmi.

Goddess Lakshmi is very incorrectly connected only with money, popular public perception is that she is the goddess of money. This however is incorrect, as the holy goddess is also the goddess of prosperity, of divinity and purity. She is also the goddess of Brahma-vidya (divine Knowledge) and one of her name is "Vidya" - which literally means knowledge. She is the goddess to whom we ask for happiness in family, friends, marriage, children, food and wealth, beauty and health. Hence she is a very popular goddess who is worshipped by every Hindu. As she is the goddess of prosperity, she is also called as Dharidranashini (destroyer of poverty) and Dharidradvamshini (one who opposes poverty).