Saraswati

According to the Hindu Vedas Saraswati is the
goddess of music, knowledge and all of the creative
arts. She is also known as Vak Devi which translates
directly into the ‘goddess of Speech’. Her mother is
Goddess Durga, which is why Saraswati is beside her
during the ‘Durga pooja’ rituals and celebrations.
Along with them are Saraswati’s brothers Ganesh
and Karthikeya and her sister Lakshmi.

In Sanskrit the word ‘Sara’ means ‘essence’ and the
word ‘swa’ means self, therefore ‘saraswati’ translates
directly into the term ‘the essence of the self’. She is
always wearing white which is a symbol of peace and
purity. She usually is seated on a lotus, a swan or a
peacock and has mala of beads in one of her hands
and a palm leaf scroll in another one.

Goddess Saraswati is the wife or the consort of
Lord Brahma, who according to Hindu mythology
is the creator of the whole Universe. For this creation,
knowledge is a necessary factor. Therefore Goddess
Saraswati is a symbol of this required Knowledge
and Wisdom. In short, she symbolizes all the
creative powers which Lord Brahma possesses.

Her four hands are extremely significant and each
one denotes something unique. All four of them
represent Goddess Saraswati’s omnipotence as well
as omnipresence. Four elements of a human’s
personality are depicted by her four hands. The
right forward arm depicts the mind or the manas,
the forward left hand depicts intellect of a human,
the right backward hand signifies ego or Ahankara
and the left backward hand denotes awareness or
Chitta. On the whole the front arms signify Goddess
Saraswati’s presence is the physical World and the
backward arms show her presence in the Spiritual one.

She plays a Veena with two of her hands which
suggest that one needs to tune his intelligence
and his mind so as to live in a peaceful and
harmonious manner in the physical world.
This allows human's to use there creativity
and intelligence for the welfare and progress
of the entire world and mankind. The most
ancient texts in Hinduism namely the ‘Vedas’
are the children of Goddess Saraswati.

Goddess Sarawati is believed to be the inventor
of the ancient scripts called Devanagri script. These
scriptures are alleged to be written as a result of
great and divine inspiration and are in Sanskrit.

She is also known as River Saraswati which originated
from the region where Vedic culture and mythology
originated. Her waters give fertility and nourishment
just like her goddess form especially to the seeds and
ideas of creativity or art. The banks of this river and
considered to be sacred and pure and used extensively
for rituals.

Goddess Saraswati and her significance are not
limited only to Hinduism. Many religions like
Jainism and Buddhism worship and acknowledge
her greatness as well. Even in Japan, the
Goddess Benten is considered a manifestation
of the Hindu Goddess Saraswati.

Her birthday is celebrated on Vasant Panchami
which is the 5th day of the lunar month of Magha.