Goddess associated with art, aesthetics, learning, sacred speech, and wisdom.
Saraswati is the patron deity of culture in all its
manifestations.
The spoken word is considered very powerful in Hindu culture
and Saraswati can either promote or frustrate one’s efforts by conferring or
withdrawing the ability to speak clearly.
Her association with sacred speech goes back to the time of
the sacrificial manuals known as the Brahmanas, in which the cult of sacrifice
was based on the precise performance of sacred speech and ritual.
Her iconography emphasizes her connection with the life of
the mind: She holds a book, a crystal (symbolic of a purified mind), a vina
(musical instrument), and a rosary (associated with religious rites, and
particularly with the repetition of the sacred sounds known as mantras)
(associated with religious rites, and particularly with the repetition of the
sacred sounds known as mantras).
Her animal vehicle is the swan, whose white color is a
symbol of purity and whose high flight is a symbol of transcendence.
Through Saraswati’s blessings (ashirvad) human beings can
transcend their biological condition to create works of art and culture.
Saraswati is usually believed to be married, although
different mythic sources give her different husbands.
In some cases she is described as the wife of the god Brahma,
the creator; here their joint activity encompasses the formation of the
material world and its transformation through human cultural activity.
In other stories she is described as the wife of the god
Vishnu, and thus a co-wife of Lakshmi.
Here the realms of Lakshmi and Saraswati can be seen as
giving differing messages about the “good things” in life— while Lakshmi grants
wealth and materi al prosperity, Saraswati brings wisdom and culture.
A popular Indian saying reports that Saraswati’s devotee
(bhakta) will never make money, while a follower of Lakshmi (whose vehicle is
the owl) will be “blind” to spiritual wisdom.
For more information on Saraswati and all the god desses of
Hinduism, see David R. Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 1986.
