Sarasvati Popular Books

Sarasvati Biography & Facts

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, IAST: Sarasvatī), also spelled as Sarasvati, is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, flowing water, abundance and wealth, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. She is a pan-Indian deity, also revered in Jainism and Buddhism. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through the modern period. She is generally depicted with four arms (which hold four symbols: a book, a rosary, a water pot, and a musical instrument called the veena). The festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring, and also known as Saraswati Puja and Saraswati Jayanti in many regions of India) is celebrated in her honour. Traditionally, the day is marked by helping young children learn how to write the letters of the alphabet. In Buddhism, she is venerated in many forms, including the East Asian Benzaiten (辯才天, "Eloquence Talent Deity"). Etymology Saraswati, is a Sanskrit fusion word of saras (सरस्) meaning "pooling water", but also sometimes translated as "speech"; and vati (वती) meaning "she who possesses". Originally associated with the river or rivers known as Saraswati, this combination, therefore, means "she who has ponds, lakes, and pooling water" or occasionally "she who possesses speech". It is also a Sanskrit composite word of surasa-vati (सरसु+अति) which means "one with plenty of water". The word Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and as a significant deity in the Rigveda. In initial passages, the word refers to the Sarasvati River and is mentioned as one among several northwestern Indian rivers such as the Drishadvati. Saraswati, then, connotes a river deity. In Book 2, the Rigveda describes Saraswati as the best of mothers, of rivers, of goddesses. Her importance grows in the later Vedas composed after the Rigveda as well as in the later Brahmana texts, and the word evolves in its meaning from "waters that purify", to "that which purifies", to "vach (speech) that purifies", to "knowledge that purifies", and ultimately into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person. Names and epithets Saraswati (Sanskrit: Sarasvatī) is known by many names. Some examples of synonyms for Saraswati include Brahmani (power of Brahma), Brahmi (goddess of sciences), Bharadi (goddess of history), Vani and Vachi (both referring to the flow of music/song, melodious speech, eloquent speaking respectively), Varnesvari (goddess of letters), Kavijihvagravasini (one who dwells on the tongue of poets). Other names include: Ambika, Bharati, Chandrika, Devi, Gomati, Hamsasana, Saudamini, Shvetambara, Subhadra, Vaishnavi, Vasudha, Vidya, Vidyarupa, and Vindhyavasini. In the Tiruvalluva Maalai, a collection of fifty-five Tamil verses praising the Kural literature and its author Valluvar, she is referred to as Nāmagal and is believed to have composed the second verse. Outside Nepal and India, she is known in Burmese as Thurathadi (သူရဿတီ, pronounced [θùja̰ðədì] or [θùɹa̰ðədì]) or Tipitaka Medaw (တိပိဋကမယ်တော်, pronounced [tḭpḭtəka̰ mɛ̀dɔ̀]), in Chinese as Biàncáitiān (辯才天), in Japanese as Benzaiten (弁才天/弁財天) and in Thai as Suratsawadi (สุรัสวดี) or Saratsawadi (สรัสวดี). Literature In Hinduism, Saraswati has retained her significance as an important goddess, from the Vedic age up to the present day. She is praised in the Vedas as a water goddess of purification, while in the Dharmashastras, Saraswati is invoked to remind the reader to meditate on virtue, and on the meaning (artha) of one's actions (karma). In Vedic literature Rigveda Saraswati first appears in the Rigveda, the most ancient source of the Vedic religion. Sarawsati holds significant religious and symbolic value in the Rigveda, as a deified entity embodying attributes of abundance and power. Primarily linked with the celestial domain of Waters (Apas) and the formidable Storm Gods (Maruts), this deity forms an integral triadic association alongside the sacrificial goddesses Ila and Bharati within the pantheon. Saraswati is described as a loud and powerful flood who roars like a bull and cannot be controlled. According to Witzel, she was associated with the Milky Way, indicating that she was seen as descending from heaven to earth. The goddess is mentioned in many Rigvedic hymns, and has three hymns dedicated to her (6:61 exclusively, and 7:95-96 which she shares with her male counterpart, Sarasvant). In Rigveda 2.41.16 she is called: "Best of mothers, the best of rivers, best of goddesses". As part of the Apas (water deities), Saraswati is associated with wealth, abundance, health, purity and healing. In Book 10 (10.17) of the Rigveda, Saraswati is celebrated as a deity of healing and purifying water. In the Atharva Veda, her role as a healer and giver of life is also emphasized. In various sources, including the Yajur Veda, she is described as having healed Indra after he drank too much Soma. Saraswati also governs dhī (Rigveda 1:3:12c.). Dhī is the inspired thought (especially that of the rishis), it is intuition or intelligence – especially that associated with poetry and religion. Saraswati is seen as a deity that can grant dhī (Rigveda 6:49:7c.) if prayed to. Since speech requires inspired thought, she is also inextricably linked with speech and with the goddess of speech, Vāc, as well as with cows and motherhood. Vedic seers compare her to a cow and a mother, and saw themselves as children sucking the milk of dhī from her. In Book 10 of the Rigveda, she is declared to be the "possessor of knowledge". In later sources, like the Yajur Veda, Saraswati is directly identified with Vāc, becoming a deity called Sarasvatī-Vāc. In the Brahmanas, Saraswati-Vac's role expands, becoming clearly identified with knowledge (which is what is communicated through speech) and as such, she is "the mother of the Vedas" as well as the Vedas themselves. The Shatapatha Brahmana states that "as all waters meet in the ocean...so all sciences (vidya) unite (ekayanam) in Vāc" (14:5:4:11). The Shatapatha Brahmana also presents Vāc as a secondary creator deity, having been the first deity created by the creator god Prajapati. She is the very instrument by which he created the world, flowing forth from him "like a continuous stream of water" according to the scripture. This is the basis for the Puranic stories about the relationship between Brahma (identified with Prajapati) and Saraswati (identified with Vāc). In other Rigvedic passages, Saraswati is praised as a mighty and unconquerable protector deity. She is offered praises and compared to a sheltering tree in Rigveda 7.95.5, while in 6:49:7 cd she is said to provide "protection which is difficult to assail." In some passages she even takes a fiercesome .... Discover the Sarasvati popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sarasvati books.