Sarasvati
- This article is about Saraswati, the Hindu goddess. There are separate articles about the Vedic Sarasvati River and Saraswati River, a small river in Haryana
In Hinduism, Saraswati (less frequently romanized as Sarasvati) is the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, science, speech, and all arts-- music, painting, dance and literature. In India today, Hindus still revere Sarasvati as a goddess who is a reflection of the greater Mother, or Devi, and female dynamic energy, or Shakti. Her festival is held in late January or early February and prayer, called puja, is conducted. Since she is the goddess of knowledge, students often present her their books and supplies before they begin classes and her image sometimes appears on school gates. She is also the central deity of Indian Classical Musicians. Her consort is Brahma.
Origins and context in Hinduism
Sarasvati can be found in Vedic texts, such as Rig Veda, and in Puranic texts, such as Ramayana. She likely originated as a Vedic river goddess; the river which once shared her name no longer exists, but where the banks of these rivers are believed to have once been, the earliest writing in India have been found. As a water goddess, she symbolises fertility, and prosperity. In the Rig-Veda(6,61,7) Sarasvati is credited with killing the asura (demon) Vritra, who represents drought, darkness, and chaos. She is often seen as equivalent to the other Vedic goddesses like Vaak (divine word, also romanised as Vac), Savitri (Illumination) and Gayatri. In the Shakta tradition (worship of Shakti or Devi, the female aspect of the divinity), Sarasvati represents intelligence, consciousness and cosmic knowledge. In later Puranic literature Saraswati (Brahmi) becomes the consort of the creator god Brahma. Some texts place her as a foil to Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth.
Saraswati in contemporary India
In India today, Hindus still revere Saraswati as the Goddess of Knowledge. On special days in the Hindu calendar special pujas are arranged for, and she is present in representation in many educational centers. In Indian Classical Music Saraswati is the patron Goddess, Mother of Music, of some of the world's greatest instrumentalists, Hindu or Muslim, among them Ravi Shankar and Ustad Bismillah Khan.
She is traditionally depicted in art as a beautiful woman with four arms in which she plays an ancient Indian stringed-instrument called a veena. She holds prayer beads and the Vedas and often a water pot, symbolizing plentitude. Generally she is shown wearing a white sari. Sometimes Sarasvati is seated on a lotus blossom, other times she is seated on or accompanied by a swan or a peacock.
Saraswati in other cultures
Besides her role in Hinduism, she was also, like the Hindu goddess Tara, absorbed from Vedic culture into the Buddhist pantheon and came to China via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her. Now largely forgotten in China, she is still worshipped in Japan under the name Benzaiten. Other names for her include Sarada, Sharada, Vani.
