In initial passages, the word referred to Sarasvati River and was mentioned with other northwestern Indian rivers such as Drishadvati.
The word Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and a significant deity in the Rigveda.
Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring) in her honor and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write alphabets on that day. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through modern times of Hindu traditions. The earliest known mention of Goddess Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda. All three forms help the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva to create, maintain and regenerate-recycle the Universe, respectively. She is a part of the Trinity (Tridevi) of Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. Her mount, the swan, personifies pure knowledge and her herald, the peacock, is a symbol of the arts. The four Vedas, books of universal knowledge, were her offspring. She embodies all that is pure and sublime in Nature. She transcends the cravings of the flesh and rejoices in the powers of the mind as the patron of pure wisdom. The white sari she adorns reflects her essential purity, her rejection of all that is base and materialistic. Saraswati wears neither jewels nor paints herself with bright colors. There are few more Brahma Temples in India but not as popular as these two mentioned above. So it came to pass that there are only two popular temples of Brahma in India one at Pushkar, Rajasthan, and the other in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. May there be hardly any temple or festival in your name.” It is said that angered by his display of unbridled passion Goddess Saraswati cursed Lord Brahma, “You have filled the world with the longing that is the seed of unhappiness. Goddess Saraswati and the curse on Lord Brahma Brahma chose Saraswati to be his wife, and thus they were reconciled. To conduct a yagna ritual, the assistance of a wife is needed. Saraswati revealed to him the doctrine for his own liberation.īrahma sought to conduct a yagna, fire sacrifice, to cleanse himself and start anew. Brahma, sobered by his encounter with the Lord of terror, sought an escape from the maze of his own desire. With her gentle touch, she nursed him like a child, restoring his sanity. Saraswati, pleased with Bhairava’s timely action, rushed to his rescue. The lord of terror ranted and raved, losing control of his senses. The violence subdued Brahma’s passion.īrahma’s cut head seared through Bhairava’s flesh and clung to his hand, sapping him of all his strength and driving him mad. He lunged towards Brahma and, with his sharp claws, wretched off Brahma’s fifth head. Lord Shiva opened his eyes, sensed Goddess Saraswati’s discomfort, and turned into Bhairava, lord of terror in a fit of rage. It disturbed the serenity of the cosmos and roused Shiva, the supreme ascetic, from his meditation. These amorous thoughts of Brahma confined consciousness and excited the ego. She personified material reality, alluring yet fleeting). (The goddess with multiple forms came to be known as Shatarupa. In the form of a cow, the mare she hid, Lord Brahma followed her in the form of bull and horse yet was unsuccessful. While Lord Brahma created Goddess Saraswati, he wasn’t unharmed by her beauty and grace and thus took it upon himself to make her his. Lord Brahma thus became the creator of the world with Goddess Saraswati as his wisdom. Seasons changed, seeds germinated, plants bloomed and withered, animals migrated and reproduced as randomness gave way to the rhythm of life. The sun rose and set the moon waxed and waned the tide flowed and ebbed. Gods became lords of the celestial spheres demons ruled the nether regions, humans walked on earth. Things began to take shape, and the cosmos acquired a structure: the sky dotted with stars rose to form the heavens the sea sank into the abyss below, the earth stood in between. The sound of mantras filled the universe with vital energy or prana. In his joy, he named Saraswati, Vagdevi, the goddess of speech and sound. He began looking upon chaos with eyes of wisdom and thus saw the beautiful potential that lay therein.īrahma discovered the melody of mantras in the cacophony of chaos. Under her tutelage, Brahma acquired the ability to sense, think, comprehend and communicate. “Knowledge helps a man find possibilities where once he saw problems.” Said the goddess Saraswati.