Goddess of wisdom - Mother Saraswati

Welcome back to an another interesting article on Hindu culture. This time I am writing about Goddess Saraswati. 

Hinduism has numerous Gods and Goddesses. Many Greek gods resemble our Hindu gods, details are there in my history book "Itihaas Saga of India" (To order click here). Greek Goddess Athena has all the similarities to Hindu Goddess Saraswati. Goddess Saraswati is a goddess of wisdom, voice, music, art and as well as knowledge. She is one of the female trinity of Gods, and wife of the creator Brahma.

Why Goddess Saraswati wears White?

We always see Goddess Saraswati wearing white saree, white pearls, sitting on white lotus, and riding the white Swan. The reason behind this colour is, white is a colour of peace and knowledge. Unless we are in peace we can not imbibe the knowledge.

Why Goddess Saraswati is on Lotus? 

Lotus bloom in mud, mud means darkness and lotus means knowledge, one can fill his/ her darkness by gathering knowledge. Even after blossoming in mud Lotus is never touched by the dirt, similarly, a wise person is never touched by the idiocy. However, Lotus also blossoms in colours like pink and white. Pink is meant for victory, Usually, we see Goddess Laxmi sitting in the form of Jaya (Victory) Laxmi on a pink lotus, whereas white is purely meant for the knowledge.

On the other hand, many paintings of Raja Ravi Varma are shown Goddess Saraswati sitting on the stone. It has a meaning, knowledge and enlightenment once gathered cannot be moved or diluted or melted just like a strong stone. 

Why Goddess Saraswati rides on Swan?

All the Gods and Goddesses have unique animals in the form of their vehicles. In the female trinity, Parvati rides on the Lion and Tiger, as she is the goddess of power who can tame the strongest animal. Laxmi rides on elephant as it is a symbol of prosperity. And Saraswati rides a Swan. Swan is the most clever bird and animal, if you place a bowl of milk mixed with water in front of Swan, it will drink only milk and all the water will be untouched. Hence, which would be the best choice to be a vehicle of a goddess of wisdom unless the Swan.

Mother Saraswati also has a peacock beside her. Peacock is a pure living being. Peacock never mates with peahen. Peahen drinks the teardrops of peacock and reproduce. Knowledge, education, and wisdom are always pure, that is why peacock is always seen beside goddess Saraswati.

Why Goddess Saraswati Plays Veena?

Just like many other Hindu Gods and Goddesses, Mother Saraswati is also seen having four hands. Two hands playing Veena, as she is also the goddess of music, and Veena is the string instrument which requires one's control over mind and actions to play. This is a representation that she has control over her mind and actions. Her Veena is named as Kachchapi. Her third-hand shows holding Vedas as she is the mother of Vedas and fourth hand holding Jaapmala as she is known for a great concentration. All these are symbols of knowledge. 

Worship- It is believed that Mother Saraswati likes Sharad-ritu. That is why Goddess Saraswati is also known as Sharada {Hindu culture has 6 seasons Vasant (Spring), Grishma (Summer) Varsha (Monsoon) Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Pre-Winter), Shishir (Winter)}. She has 108 names.

There are very few temples of mother Saraswati and creator Brahma in India due to the curse of Brugu Rishi (That story I will post some other time). In Karnataka, there is a famous temple known as Sharadamba temple in Sringeri, built by Sri Shankaracharya on the river banks of Tunga. Thousands of people visit this temple with their young children for their Aksharabhyasa (Begin the writing with letter OM for the first time) before sending them to school. In Hindu culture, it is always believed to worship and take blessings of Mother Saraswati before commencing the studies, so that children will learn well in their academics.

Goddess is also worshipped on Vasant Panchami day, that comes in the mid- February. I still remember, in my school days we always worshipped goddess Saraswati on this day and prayed for her blessings before the exams. May Goddess Saraswati bless everyone with good knowledge and wisdom. 

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Images- Google