Saraswati facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Saraswati |
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| Personification of the Saraswati River Goddess of Knowledge, Music, Art, Speech |
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| Member of Tridevi | |
Painting of Saraswati by Raja Ravi Varma
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| Other names | Sharada, Savitri, Brahmani, Bharadi, Vani, Vagdevi |
| Devanagari | सरस्वती |
| Affiliation | Devi, River goddess, Tridevi, Gayatri |
| Abode | Satyaloka, Manidvipa |
| Mantra | ॐ ऐं महासरस्वत्यै नमः, om̐ aim mahāsarasvatyai namaḥ |
| Symbols | The colour white, lotus, Veena, Saraswati river, books |
| Mount | Swan or peacock |
| Festivals | Vasant Panchami and seventh day of Navaratri |
| Personal information | |
| Consort | Brahma |
| Children | Narada |
Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, IAST: Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda. She is generally shown to have four arms, holding a book, a rosary, a water pot, and a musical instrument called the veena. Each of these items have a symbolic meaning in Hinduism.
Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring, and also known as Saraswati Puja and Saraswati Jayanti in many regions of India) in her honour, and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write the letters of the alphabet on that day. The goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India, as well as some Buddhist sects.
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".
Saraswati is known by many names in ancient Hindu literature. 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),
- Vidyadatri (Goddess who provides knowledge),
- Veenavadini (Goddess who plays Veena, the musical instrument held by Goddess Saraswati),
- Pustakadharini (Goddess who carries a book),
- Veenapani (Goddess who carries a veena in her hands),
- Hamsavahini (Goddess who sits on swan), and
- Vagdevi (Goddess of speech).
Other names include: Ambika, Bharati, Chandrika, Devi, Gomati, Hamsasana, Saudamini, Shvetambara, Subhadra, Vaishnavi, Vasudha, Vidya, Vidyarupa, and Vindhyavasini.
In some interpretations, "Sara" is translated as "Essence", and "Sva" is translated to "Self". Thus, the name Saraswati would translate to "She who helps realize the essence of self" or "She who reconciles the essence (of Parabrahman) with one's self".
Birth
Saraswati was born from the Samudra Manthan that arranged between the Devatas and the Asuras. She was born from the sea and was married to Lord Brahma thereafter. In another legend, Brahma created her by his imagination. However, she turned out to be so beautiful that he could not takes his eyes off her. Since he had five heads - four in the four cardinal directions - and one on top, his head kept turning in whichever direction Saraswati went.
Symbolism and iconography
The goddess Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful woman dressed in pure white, often seated on a white lotus, which symbolizes light, knowledge and truth. She not only embodies knowledge but also the experience of the highest reality. Her iconography is typically in white themes from dress to flowers to swan – the colour symbolizing Sattwa Guna or purity, discrimination for true knowledge, insight and wisdom.
Her dhyana mantra describes her to be as white as the moon, clad in a white dress, bedecked in white ornaments, radiating with beauty, holding a book and a pen in her hands (the book represents knowledge).
She is generally shown to have four arms, but sometimes just two. When shown with four hands, those hands symbolically mirror her husband Brahma's four heads, representing manas (mind, sense), buddhi (intellect, reasoning), citta (imagination, creativity), and ahamkāra (self consciousness, ego). Brahma represents the abstract, while she represents action and reality.
The four hands hold items with symbolic meaning – a pustaka (book or script), a mālā (rosary, garland), a water pot and a musical instrument (vīnā). The book she holds symbolizes the Vedas representing the universal, divine, eternal, and true knowledge as well as all forms of learning. A mālā of crystals, representing the power of meditation, inner reflection, and spirituality. A pot of water represents the purifying power to separate right from wrong, the clean from the unclean, and essence from the inessential. In some texts, the pot of water is symbolism for soma – the drink that liberates and leads to knowledge. The most famous feature on Saraswati is a musical instrument called a veena, represents all creative arts and sciences, and her holding it symbolizes expressing knowledge that creates harmony. Saraswati is also associated with anurāga, the love for and rhythm of music, which represents all emotions and feelings expressed in speech or music.
A hamsa – either a swan or a goose – is often shown near her feet. In Hindu mythology, the hamsa is a sacred bird, which if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. It thus symbolizes the ability to discriminate between good and evil, essence from the outward show, and the eternal from the evanescent. Due to her association with the swan, Saraswati is also referred to as Hamsavāhini, which means “she who has a hamsa as her vehicle”. The swan is also a symbolism for spiritual perfection, transcendence and moksha.
Sometimes a citramekhala (also called mayura, peacock) is shown beside the goddess. The peacock symbolizes colorful splendor, the celebration of dance, and – as the devourer of snakes – the alchemical ability to transmute the serpent poison of self into the radiant plumage of enlightenment.
Festivals
One of the most famous festivals associated with Goddess Saraswati is the Hindu festival of Vasant Panchami. Celebrated on the 5th day in the Hindu calendar month of Magha (month), it is also known as Saraswati Puja and Saraswati Jayanti in India.
In 2018, the Haryana government launched and sponsored the annual National Saraswati Mahotsav in its state named after Saraswati.
Images for kids
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Images of the goddess Saraswati may be found not only in the temples of India, but also in those of Southeast Asia, the islands of Indonesia, China and Japan. In Japan, she is known as Benzaiten (shown), and is traditionally depicted playing a biwa, in keeping with her status as a deity of music, knowledge and all that flows.
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Dancing Sarasvati with eight-hands (above) is depicted in three panels of the Hoysaleswara temple, Halebid Karnataka (c. 1150 CE). One of these is shown above. She is in a classical Indian dance posture, and in one of her eight hands she holds a pen, a palm leaf manuscript, a musical instrument and the tools of major arts. The shilpins thus depicted her as the goddess of knowledge and all arts.
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Saraswati Puja at Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama High School, Kolkata, West Bengal
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Statues of Chinese Buddhist gods, with Saraswati in the centre, at Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai, China
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Statue of Thurathadi at Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple (Yangon)
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Saraswati in an 18th-century C.E. Tibetan artwork, holding a stick zither.
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See also
In Spanish: Sarasvati para niños
