Kojagari Lakshmi Puja is an important puja and worship of Goddess Lakshmi on the full moon day in the month of Ashwin in Bengal and eastern parts of India
Legend has it that once there lived a generous and honest king who for the welfare of artisans in his kingdom made it a point that all unsold goods during the weekly market day would be bought by the king.
Once the king bought an iron statue of Alakshmi, Goddess of poverty, which was unsold during the weekly market. The king placed the statue in the puja room in the palace. That night the king heard a woman crying.
The sound of crying was coming from the puja room. King found that a beautiful woman was sitting and crying inside the puja room.
On enquiry the king came to know that the woman was Goddess Lakshmi and she was crying because she could not live along with Goddess of poverty. But the king was not ready to throw away the idol of Goddess of poverty as it would be an insult to the artisan who made it.
On enquiry the king came to know that the woman was Goddess Lakshmi and she was crying because she could not live along with Goddess of poverty. But the king was not ready to throw away the idol of Goddess of poverty as it would be an insult to the artisan who made it.
The same scene was repeated on every following night and soon Goddess of fortune, luck and goddess of success and knowledge deserted the palace. The king started losing his glory and his kingdom was becoming poor day by day.
Finally, the king one day found that God of Dharma was also planning to leave him. The King stops him and says that he brought the statue of the Goddess of poverty as he had promised to buy any goods that were not sold during the weekly market. He did so to uphold Dharma. The God of Dharma was pleased and promised that he will soon regain all that he had lost when the Queen performs Kojagiri Purnima Vrat.
The pious queen who came to know about what was happening in the kingdom immediately agreed to perform Kojagari Lakshmi Puja.
The queen performed the Lakshmi puja on the full moon day in the Ashwin month and meditated in front of the idol of Goddess Lakshmi and she did not sleep the entire night. Due to the power of her piety and worship, the iron idol of the Goddess of poverty melted away and the king became prosperous.
This incident reached the ears of all the people in the kingdom and they started performing Kojagari Lakshmi puja to remove poverty and usher in prosperity and peace.