There is a controversy about the exact position of Kolhapur Mahalaxmi in the Hindu pantheon. According Vaishnava belief, she is Laxmi while according to Shakta beliefs, she is Parvati.
Idol of Kolhapur Mahalaxmi
To find out if the deity in a temple being worshipped is the fickle goddess of fortune or the awe-inspiring goddess of power, all one has to do is to check what is the sacred animal associated with the goddess, usually placed in front of the sanctum.
Kolhapur Mahalaxmi
If it is elephant, then the deity is Lakshmi; if it is the lion, the deity is Durga.
At the Kolhapur Mahalakshmi temple, it is the lion (as it is in Mumbai’s Mahalakshmi temple incidentally), firmly establishing her as the goddess of power and war and royalty.
- In two Kannada inscriptions from Shirur (Bijapur District) dated 1049 A.D and 1064 A.D. respectively, Rajavarma and Marasingha are said to have been the devotees of Mahalaxmi & in those inscriptions it is mentioned that Mahalaxmi of Kolhapur is the wife Shiva, whose vehicle is Simha.
- An inscription from the Mahalaksmi temple, which is dated 1218 A.D. informs us that the image of Mahalaksmi had a linga over its head and a porch resembling the mountain Himalaya was erected in front of her temple.
Caitanya, the greatest Vaisnava saint of Bengal visited this place in 1510. Vadirajatirtha of the Uttaradi Madhva Matha also visited Kolhapur in the latter half of the 16th century.
But these two saints addressed the goddess as Laksmi and Rama respectively, meaning the wife of lord Vishnu.
Vadirajatirtha and other followers of the Vaisnava sect believe that Mahalaksmi is identical with Laksmi, the wife of lord Visnu.
While three inscriptions mentioned above tend to show that she is the wife of lord Shiva.
The linga on her head and the lion vehicle substantiate their belief.
There are still others who find in her the characteristics of both Laksmi and Parvati.
The Saktas would give her an independant position and would include Kolhapur in the list of saktipithas.
Lakshmi or Durga? Consort of Vishnu or Shiva, or independent? Practical ‘living’ Hinduism defies all theoretical boundaries.
I am inclined to include her in the Saiva fold, but not without difficulties. In the same way a controversy has arisen about the age of the image. Inscriptional descriptions differ from the textual ones which themselves differ from the sculptural description of the image and it has become very difficult to come to any correct conclusion.