Athene blewitti

Status: Endangered due to loss of forest habitat. The forest owlet is endemic to India, and it was thought to be extinct from the late 1800s, but in recent decades has been occasionally sited. Because of the superstitions associated with owls and their link with Lakshmi, owls have been captured and sacrificed for the sake of good fortune and prosperity during the Hindu celebration Diwali, festival of lights.

Owls in India have often been hunted for both the good and the ill omens that folklore assigns to them. They are illegally hunted and traded, often sacrificed to ward off the evil eye that is associated with them, as well as to boost wealth and fortune on auspicious celebrations.

Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fertility, and power. In iconography, she is usually seated or standing on a lotus, with her elephants, or else with an owl. The owl is a symbol of foretelling, perception and knowledge, patience, and wisdom. As a creature of the night, it is also a reminder to not be blinded by bright splendor of the trappings of wealth, but to seek for deeper spiritual wealth.

Her twin sister and diametric opposite, is Alakshmi. Alakshmi is everything that Lakshmi is not. She is misfortune, strife, calamity, envy, greed, war.

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Size: 6 x 6 inches
Medium: Ink
©2023, Stephanie Law