#palm leaf manuscript | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blrowanducks-blog · 2 years

Text

A MUSE - Her long story

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती), (pronounced sah RAS wah TEE) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning, all fruits of the intellect. She floats in sonorous music, highlighted by rustling silk and tinkling ornaments as she glides in serenity on her celestial Swan, stopping now and than in heavenly lotus pools. Her radiance, moonlike, promotes discernment, her calming smile fosters lucid reflection and creative inspiration. Her delicate long tapered fingers clasp a crystal rosary for She inspires sacred speech of every kind. She also holds a palm leaf manuscript for She grants fluency and elegance of expression to poets, scholars, playwrights, philosopher's and teachers.

What are Her anticidents and how did She evolve. The earliest literary evidence comes from the Rg-veda, so She was a Goddess in the Indo-European Aryan pantheon but some of Her characteristics probably were assimilated from a preexisting Goddess based culture.

In the Rg-veda, the close association between natural phenomena and such Vedic goddesses as Usas and Pṛthivi is also seen in the goddess Sarasvati, who is associated with a particular river. Although scholars have debated precisely which river she was identified with in Vedic times (the Sara svati River of that period has since disappeared), in the Rg-veda her most important characteristics are those of a particular mighty river. In deed, at times it is not clear whether a goddess or a river is being praised; many references hail the Sarasvati River as a mighty goddess.

Sarasvati is called mighty and powerful. Her waves are said to break down mountains, and her flood waters are described as roaring (Rg-veda - 6.61.2, 8). She is said to surpass all waters in greatness, to be ever active, and to be great among the great. She is said to be inexhaustible, having her source in the celestial ocean (7.95.1-2; 5.43.11). She is clearly no mere river but a heaven-sent stream that blesses the earth. Indeed, she is said to pervade the triple creation of earth, atmosphere, and the celestial regions (6.61.11-12).

She is praised for the fertility she brings the earth. She is praised or petitioned for wealth, vitality, children, nourishment, and immortality, and as such she is called subhaga (bountiful). As a fecund, bountiful presence, she is called mother, the best of mothers (2.41.16). As a nourishing, maternal goddess, she is described in terms similar to Prthivi: She quickens life, is the source of vigor and strength, and provides good luck and material well-being to those whom she blesses. In one particular hymn she is called upon by unmarried men who yearn for sons. They ask to enjoy her breast that is swollen with streams and to receive from her food and progeny (7.96.4-6; 1.164.49). She is sometimes petitioned for protection and in this aspect is called a sheltering tree (7.95.5) and an iron fort (7.95.1), neither image being particularly fluvial.

Sarasvati is also closely related to Vedic cult, both as a participant in or witness of the cult and as a guardian of the cult. She is invoked with and associated with the sacrificial goddesses Ida and Bhāratī and with the goddesses Mahi and Hotra, who are associated with prayer (7.37.11; 10.65.13). She is said to destroy those who revile the gods and to be a slayer of Vṛtra, a demon of chaos.

Sarasvati is described particularly as a purifying presence (1.3.10). Her waters cleanse poison from men (6.61.3). Along with rivers and floods in general, she cleanses her petitioners with holy oil and bears away defilements (10.17.10)

Anticipating her later nature as a goddess of inspiration, eloquence, and learning, the hymns of the Rg-veda also describe Sarasvati as the in citer of all pleasant songs, all gracious thought, and every pious thought (1.3.10-12). In this vein she is similar to the Vedic goddess Vac (speech), with whom she is consistently identified in the Brahmanas.

Sarasvati is one of the few important goddesses in the Vedas who remains significant in later Hinduism. In the Vedas her character and attributes are clearly associated with the mighty Sarasvati River. She is the earliest example of a goddess who is associated with a river in the Indian tradition. As a river goddess she is praised for her ability both to cleanse and to fertilize. Later Vedic literature (the Brahmanas) consistently associates her, even equates her, with the goddess of speech, Vac. Increasingly in her later history her association with a river is deemphasized and her association with speech, poetry, music, and culture in general is affirmed. In classical and medieval Hinduism Sarasvati is primarily a goddess of poetic inspiration and learning. She becomes associated with the creator god Brahma as either his daughter or wife. In this role she is creative sound, which lends to reality a peculiar and distinctive human dimension. She becomes identified with the dimension of reality that is best described as coherent intelligibility. Sarasvati to this day is worshiped throughout India and on her special day is worshiped by school children as the patron goddess of learning.

In the religion of the Vedic Aryans Sarasvati as the embodiment of the Sarasvati River is significant in that Vedic religon was primarily a portable religion. It centered around a fire cult that did not require permanent temples or places of worship. The domestic hearth itsel was a center of worship. By and large Vedic religion was appropriate for a nomadic life. In fact, as we know, the Aryans of the Vedas migrated into Northwest India as a nomadic people sometime during the second millennium B.C.E. and gradually spread South and East, undoubtedly encountering goddess centered religious culture.

Throughout the subcontinent in the course of many generations. The reverence given to Sarasvati as the embodiment of a river in Northwest India is important because it indicates that the Aryans had begun to identify their culture with a specific geographical location and were beginning to settle down to a non-nomadic way of life.

The transition from a nomadic to an agricultural, village culture is central in the transition from the religion of the Vedic Aryans to classical Hinduism. In classical Hinduism India herself is affirmed to be the center of the world, the navel of the earth, the special and sacred location of the divine. This is dramatically specified in the sacrality of many individual features of the Indian subcontinent, especially the sacredness of the major rivers of the land. The goddess Sarasvati, then, represents a very early example of this tendency in the Hindu tradition toward affirming the land itself as holy. The river goddess Sarasvati of the Vedas is a prototype of such important later river goddesses as Ganga and Jumnā.

The river goddess Sarasvati is also important in a theological or religious sense in that she suggests the sacrality inherent in rivers or water in general. While the symbolism of water is rich and complex in the religions of the world, two typical associations are important in Vedic descriptions of Sarasvati. First, she is said to bestow bounty, fertility, and riches. Her waters enrich the land so that it can produce. The waters of the river represent life itself in a dry environment, which Northwest India may have already been at the time of the Aryan migrations. Second, Sarasvati represents purity, as does water, particularly running water. Although this characteristic is rarely mentioned directly vis-à-vis Sarasvati, it is stated frequently in the Vedas that rituals were often performed on the banks of the Sarasvati, which were held to be especially sacred for ritual purposes. This probably suggests the purifying powers of the river.

Saravati's purifying power in the Vedic texts is also suggested in her association with medicine and healing. In the Satapatha-brahmana in particular she is called upon to heal sickness and is referred to as a healing, medicine. In the Rg-veda she and the Asvinas, twin gods often associated with healing, are said to heal the god Indra (10.131). As a divine physician, then, Sarasvati is petitioned to cleanse the petitioner of disease.

A particularly Indian association with rivers is the imagery of crossing from the world of ignorance or bondage to the far shore, which represents the world of enlightenment or freedom. The religious quest in all three native Indian religions-Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism is expressed by the metaphor of fording or crossing a wide stream. The river in this metaphor represents the state of transition, the period of rebirth, in which the spiritual sojourner undergoes a crucial metamorphosis. The river represents a great purifying power in which the pilgrim drowns his old self and is born anew, free and enlightened. This imagery expressly used in connection with Sarasvati in the Vedas, but it may have been understood implicitly and may help to explain the association of Sarasvati with inspiration, speech, and wisdom in her later history.

Although Sarasvati's nature and characteristics are overwhelmingly associated with a mighty river, this is no ordinary river. Early Vedic references make it clear that the Sarasvati River originates in heaven and flows down to the earth. This idea, also affirmed in the case of such important later river goddesses as Ganga, is a way of asserting the sacred nature of the rivers in question. The Sarasvati (and later the Ganga) represents an ever-flowing stream of celestial grace which purifies and fertilizes the earth. The earthly manifestation of Sarasvati as a river thus represents only a partial disclosure of her being. Physical contact with her earthly manifestation, however, connects one with the awesome, heavenly, transcendent dimension of the goddess and of reality in general.

The companion of the rippling brook, Saravati, and her connection with a river steadily decreases in later Hinduism. Although she continues to be associated with a river in some late sources," her characteristics and appearance increasingly bear little or no relation to a goddess who embodies the sacrality of a river.

As early as the Brahmanas Sarasvati is consistently identified with Vägdevi, the goddess of speech. It is not at all clear what intrinsic connection between Sarasvati and Vägdevi led to this association. Perhaps the centrality of sacred speech in Vedic cult and the importance of Vedic rituals being performed on the banks of the Sarasvati River led to the identification of the two goddesses. In any case, Sarasvati increasingly becomes a goddess associated with speech, learning, culture, and wisdom; most post-Vedic references to her do not even hint that at one time she was with a river.

In later Hinduism Sarasvati is sometimes said to have been born from the God Bhrama. Bhrama desiring to create the world goes into meditationon. Whereupon Brahma's body divides in two, half male and half female. Enraptured by his female half, who is Sarasvati, Brahma desires her, mates with her, and creates the demigod Manu, who subsequently creates the world." A similar version of her origin is found in the Brahma-vaivarta-purana and the Devi-bhagavata-purana. According to these texts, Krsna, who is identified with absolute reality (branman), divides himself into male and female, puruşa and prakṛti, spirit and matter, in order to proceed with creation. His female half takes on five forms or five saktis, dynamic powers, one of which is Sarasvati.' Reminding us of the five Dhyana Buddhas. Her specific creative function in relation to the other saktis is to pervade reality with insight, knowledge, and learning." In relation to prakrti she is said to be purely sattvic, spiritual. These same texts also describe Sarasvati's origin from the tip of Krsna's sakti's tongue. Suddenly, they say, a lovely girl appears dressed in yellow clothes, adorned with jewels, and carrying a book and a vina (lute)." Sarasvati is also often said to have her origin in and to reside in the mouths or on the tongues of the god Brahma (Brahma has four or five heads). That is, when Brahma undertakes the creation of the world through creative speech, the goddess Sarasvati is born in his mouths.

Sarasvati is also said to have had her origin from the god Visnu. In several places she is said to be his tongue or to be held in his mouth. Her association with Vişņu makes her the co-wife of Laksmi in many myths. In this relationship Sarasvati for the most part represents spiritual, ascetic, or religious goals and values, whereas Laksmi represents worldly well-being as manifest in wealth, material power, and fertility. In some texts the two goddesses do not get along very well, suggesting perhaps, a tension between bhukti (sensual enjoyment) or dharma and mukti (spiritual liberation or perfection) in Hinduism as we also see exemplified in the figure of Shiva.

Although Sarasvati's nature and appearance change dramatically from the Vedic period to later Hinduism as her association with a river decreases, she does maintain some characteristics of her earlier history. in a few cases even maintaining her association with a river.' She is associated, for example, with clouds, thunder, and rain and is said to be the presiding deity of rain. In the Vamana-purana she is described as moving through the clouds and producing rain (40.14)." The Vamana purana also identifies Sarasvati with all waters (40.14). Her association with Soma in some texts and with water in general suggests that Sarasvati is identified with the underlying sap of vitality necessary for all living things, that she nourishes life and promotes fertility. These continued associations with water, and sometimes with rivers, indicate a certain continuity between the river goddess of the Vedas and the later goddess. Even in reference to her association with waters, though, Sarasvati's character is much changed. In the later tradition she is not so much a river goddess as a goddess who manifests herself through the life-giving and purifying nature of all water: Tain, rivers, ponds, and so on. Like Soma she pervades creation; she has transcended her association with a specific river and now is more like life giving Mana.

Far more characteristic of the later Sarasvati is her association with speech. Even in the Rg-veda she is called impeller of true and sweet speech and awakener of happy and noble thoughts (6.61.9). Such as Vagdevi (goddess of speech), Jihvägravasini (dwelling in the front of the tongue), Kavijihvägrävasini (she who dwells on the tongues of the poets), Sabdavasini (she who dwells in sound), Vägisa (mistress of speech), and Mahāvāni (possessing great speech) are often used for Sarasvati. Her mythological identification with the tongues of Brahma, Krsna, and Vişņu also underlines her identification with speech or creative sound as music.

The importance of speech in Hinduism is both ancient and central. The entire creative process is held to be distilled in the syllable OM, and the idea of creation proceeding from sabda-brahman (ultimate reality in the form of sound) is often mentioned in Hindu texts, as it is in the Hebrew Bible. The potency of speech and sound is also seen in the centrality of mantras in Hinduism. A mantra, which may consist of words or of sounds alone, is held to possess great power. Indeed, the mantra of a given deity is declared to be equivalent to the deity itself. To pronounce a mantra is to make the deity present. The name of the deity and the deity itself are equivalent. There resides in sound a potent quality, and this quality is embodied in the goddess Sarasvati.

Speech is also important and revered because it permits communication between people. Speech, to a great extent, sets human beings apart from all animals. Speech is also associated with rationality and refinement. Speech represents coherent sound that permits the transmission of ideas, wisdom, and culture. As the embodiment of speech, then, Sarasvati is present wherever speech exists. And so it is that she is preeminently associated with the best in human culture: poetry, literature. sacred rituals, and rational communication between individuals.

Sarasvati is also identified with thought and intellect. Not only is she speech in the form of coherent sound, she is that which underlies or makes speech possible, namely, intelligence and thought. This association is indicated in such epithets for her as Smrtisakti (the power of memory), Jñañaśakti (the power of knowledge). Buddhisaktisvarupiņi (whose form is the power of intellect). Kalpanasakti (who is the power of forming ideas), and Pratibha (intelligence, or she who is intelligence). As thought and intellect, Sarasvati is thus identified with the distinctive ability that distinguishes human beings as special, reasoning. She represents the peculiar human ability to think, which is precisely the ability that has permitted human beings to create and imagine their innumerable cultural products, from cooking pots to philosophic systems. ther reinforces her nature as the goddess of speech and thought. Sarasvati's association with science, learning, and knowledge would make Her the goddess of mathematics and physics.

Sarasvati is also said to underlie, inspire, or embody the arts. She is said to provide inspiration to poets and to be present wherever artistic excellence is evident. Poets often praise her assistance or ask for her help. She is said to be associated with the Gandharvas, a supernatural race that excels at dancing," and she is often associated with music, both instrumental and vocal. In short, Sarasvati is manifest wherever human culture exists. Inspiring and embodying both the arts and sciences in human culture, she represents the greatness of human civilization in all its richness and diversity.

Beyond Sarasvati's associations with culture, which dominate her character, are certain cosmic associations or certain tendencies and epithets that suggest her primordial, absolute nature. Such names as the following identify Sarasvati as a great, universal goddess whose functions extend to the creation of the worlds: Jaganmātā (mother of the world), Saktirūpiņi (whose form is power or sakti), and Visvarupā (containing all forms within her). It is fairly easy to imagine how Sarasvati's character as the inspiration and embodiment of culture might lead to her assuming such cosmic characteristics. As the reality that permits human beings to achieve dominion over all other creatures, that permits or inspires the beauty and grace manifest in the arts, that has enabled human beings to achieve an almost godlike nature in the physical world as its masters and molders, this goddess of culture comes to be extolled or equated with the highest powers of the cosmos.

Sarasvati's iconography illustrates her associations with culture, particularly the arts and sciences, and shows her to be a goddess who is for the most part set apart from the natural realm of growth, fertility, blood, and other phenomena often associated with or central in the iconography and mythology of other goddesses. She is usually depicted as having four hands, and the most common items held by her are a book, a lute (vina), a rosary, and a water pot. The book associates her with the sciences and with learning in general. The lute associates her with the arts, particularly the musical arts, and the rosary and the water pot associate her with the spiritual sciences and with religious rites.

The predominant themes in Sarasvati's appearance are purity and transcendence. She is almost always said to be pure white like snow, the moon, or the kunda flower" or to shine brilliantly and whitely like in numerable moons." Her garments are said to be fiery in their purity, or they are described as white, and she is sometimes said to be smeared with sandalwood paste." Sarasvati's gleaming white body and garments express well her purity and transcendence, and these themes are in keeping with her typical association with the sattva guna, the pure, spiritual thread of prakyti. Sarasvati is rarely described as having fearsome aspects" and is usually portrayed as calm and peaceful. These qualities are conveyed in the serene, white images of her in Hindu art."

Sarasvati's transcendent nature, which removes her from the impurities of the natural world and its rhythms of growth and fertility, is also suggested in her vehicle, the swan. The swan is a symbol of spiritual transcendence and perfection in Hinduism. Spiritual masters and heroes are sometimes called supreme swans (paramahamsa) in that they have completely transcended the limitations and imperfections of the phenomenal world. Sarasvati, astride her swan, suggests a dimension of human existence that rises above the physical, natural world. Her realm is one of beauty, perfection, and grace; it is a realm created by artistic inspiration, philosophic insight, and accumulated knowledge, which have enabled human beings to so refine their natural world that they have been able to transcend its limitations. Sarasvati astride her swan beckons human beings to continued cultural creation and civilized perfection.

Sarasvati is also typically shown seated on a lotus. Like the swan, the lotus seat of the goddess suggests her transcendence of the physical world. She floats above the muddy imperfections of the physical world, unsullied, pure, beautiful. Although rooted in the mud (like man rooted in the physical world), the lotus perfects itself in a blossom that has transcended the mud. Sarasvati inspires people to live in such a way that they may transcend their physical limitations through the ongoing creation of culture.

The benefits to be derived from the worship of Sarasvati, of the blessings that she is expected to bestow on her devotees, usually relate to the themes that we have noted as central to her character. She gives eloquence, wisdom, poetic inspiration, and artistic skill. She removes speech defects and dumbness and grants charming speech and a musical voice. Although she is sometimes said to grant wealth, long life, worldly enjoyments, and final salvation, she is primarily the goddess of wisdom and learning and specializes in promoting success among philosophers. scholars, and artists, who are her special devotees.

A persistent theme in the Hindu tradition is that human destiny involves the refinement of nature. Although the ultimate goal of the religious quest may be moksa, the complete release from the phenomenal world, Hindus affirm that being fully human necessitates molding, enhancing, and refining the natural world in order to make it habitable for human beings. Such important Hindu ideas as dharma, the samskaras (life-cycle rituals), and the varna-jati (caste) system all suggest this emphasis. The arts and sciences, however, seem to be the most obvious and concrete manifestations of this theme in the Hindu tradition. Artistic creation and the accumulated knowledge of the sciences, including philosophy, epitomize human culture and demonstrate the extraordinary ability of human beings to mold and refine the natural world into something beautiful and specially human. Sarasvati presides over and inspires this dimension of being human in the Hindu tradition.

Many goddesses both within and outside the Hindu tradition gain their immense vitality and popularity through their associations with certain aspects of the natural world. Fertility, sexuality, growth, blood, and the sap of life in general seem to be embodied in many goddesses. Hinduism also attributes great power to goddesses. They are typically referred to as saktis (powers), and several Hindu goddesses are particularly adept at warfare and are most at home on the battlefield. Several other Hindu goddesses seem to be particularly popular among women and to specialize in family and domestic blessings. Many goddesses provide models for the most significant female roles in Hindu culture, or at least they participate in these roles, albeit in ways that do not always conform to dharmic models. Sarasvati has very few of these associations. Her pure, milky-white appearance and completely sattvic nature dissociate her from the mud of existence, from the vigorous, fecund sap of fertility. Her sexual encounters are not emphasized, and when her father/husband Brahma does desire her, she seeks to flee from him. Her motherhood is usually only metaphorical: she is said to give birth to artistic creations by providing inspiration or to have given birth to the Vedas in the sense that she personifies wisdom. In the Devi-bhagavata purana she is said to be ascetic in nature and to grant boons to those who perform asceticism (9.1.35). Her presence is therefore not usually sought in the home. She is not a domestic goddess. Nor is her presence sought in the fields, where fertility is crucial, or in the forests and mountains, where isolation from culture is desired in the quest for mokṣa. Her presence is sought in libraries and schools, by those who create and bear

culture in the ongoing task of transforming the natural world into a refined and civilized habitation for human beings. Throughout North India today Sarasvati's special puja is celebrated in early Spring. On this special day images of the Goddess are placed in schools and universities in association with special cultural programs.

Sarasvati's association with the intellectual sphere assured that she would find favor among Buddhists, who highly value wisdom and its servants: mental clarity, reasoning ability, memorization, and oratorical skill. Sarasvati thus has an affinity with Prajñāpāramitā, the goddess of perfect wisdom. They may be invoked by the same mantra, reflecting the kinship between the wisdom goddess and the patroness of learning.

Speech is emphasized in the Tibetan translation of her name as Yangchenma, "Goddess of Melodious Voice." Buddhist texts acknowledge that she is worshipped by "all scholars in India, Hindus and Buddhists alike, without contention. The Karandavyuha (ca. sixth century), however, endows her with an explicitly Buddhist origin, holding that she emerged from the eyetooth of Avalokitesvara when different parts of his body gave rise to the Hindu gods.

There is little evidence of Buddhist worship of Sarasvati before the fourth century C.E. She apparently finds no mention in Pali literature, and her effigies are absent from the known corpus of early Buddhist art. A female figure playing a stringed instrument, carved on a Bhärhut railing pillar (second century B.C.E.), has been accepted by some as the earliest effigy of Sarasvati. This image, however, predates iconographic descriptions and other known images of the goddess by several centuries and thus appears to be a celestial musician (apsaras), a type of figure often described as rejoicing in the presence of the Buddha and his relics. The same is true of several lute-bearing females in the Gandharan repertoire (first and second centuries C.E.). Sarasvati finds passing mention in the Buddhacarita (second century C.E.) among Hindu deities who helped bring forth the Vedas, according her no special Buddhist significance or reverence.

The Golden Radiance Scripture (ca. late fourth or early fifth century) marks a transition in Buddhist conceptions of Sarasvati. Her name appears throughout the work among the pan-Indic, rather than specifically Buddhist, divinities whose blessings are promised to listeners and reciters of the text. The non Buddhist origin of Sarasvati is acknowledged by her inclusion in these passages, but she is favored with placement at or near the head of these lists as the "foremost" (pramukha) of the assembly and is repeatedly lauded as a "great goddess" (mahadevi and mahadevata)." Moreover, Sarasvati is the focus of one of the few chapters devoted to individual divinities. This portion of the work is the earliest known document of her explicit incorporation into the Buddhist pantheon, advancing her as an object of Buddhist invocation, ritual, and worship. She is praised as "supremely, extremely beautiful" and, among all divine females, as "the supreme, chief, excellent goddess," brilliant and of knowledge," "endowed with profound wisdom."

As the chapter opens, Sarasvati pays homage to the Buddha and promises that she will grace the preachers of the scripture with eloquence, oratorical power, perfect memory, inconceivable knowledge, penetrating wisdom, illumination, skill in liberating others, scholarly expertise in every field, proficiency in all the arts, merit, prosperity, and long life. Several Sarasvati mantras (termed dharani in the work) for different purposes are given in the chapter,

including a special recitation for memory retention. In the following mantra, translatable phrases alternate with syllables of evocatory power:

May my insight be unobstructed! May my knowledge prosper in text books, verses, magic books, doctrinal books, and poems! So be it: "Mahaprabbave hili hili mili mili." May it go forth for me by the power of the blessed goddess "Sarasvati! karate keyüre keyurabati hili mili hili mili bili bili."

The Golden Radiance Scripture outlines a role for Sarasvati that far exceeds begetting wisdom. The text proclaims that she frees her devotees from unfavorable planetary influences, human discord, nightmares, and persecution by supernatural beings, negative conditions that fall within her purview are disruptions to the tranquil harmonious environment necessary for intellectual and creative pursuits. These obstacles and adversities are to be removed by an elaborate ablution rite. More than thirty herbs and medicinal plants must be powdered, consecrated with mantras, and added to the purifying ablution water. A Sarasvati mandala is then constructed out of flowers, gold and silver vessels, mirrors, banners, and incense, to the accompaniment of five kinds of musical instruments. Sarasvati is to be envisioned in eight-armed form, but her attributes are not described. The goddess promises that she will appear at the ritual site and, in addition to the aforementioned benefits, remove "every disease from that village, city, district, or dwelling," so that all who reside there may gain relief from suffering and rapidly attain enlightenment.

Buddhist envisionments of Sarasvati took Hindu conceptions of the goddess as a point of departure. A favored Buddhist form, known as Vajravīnā, "Lady of the Adamantine Lute," is a white, two-armed epiphany in which she plays her supernal lute, or vina. The instrument is made of lapis lazuli and has a thousand strings capable of eliciting every musical note. Sarasvati's melodies pervade the universe and delight all types of beings in accordance with whatever is most pleasing to their ears. She sits with ankles crossed and knees raised in a distinctive posture suitable for balancing a musical instrument.

Writers expend themselves to describe the patroness of poesy with literary flourish, as seen in a passage from a Sakya meditation manual:

"On the tremulous corolla of a pure white lotus, sitting charmingly on a moon-disc with upraised knees... she strums a celestial lute, producing melodious sounds that satisfy the hearts of the diverse beings in the three white lotuses. Her hands and wrists are adorned with strands of jewels and tinkling bells. The sight of the youthful, enchanting goddess inspires wonder in all beings."

Another two-armed, white manifestation known as Maha-Sarasvati displays a white lotus (often supporting a book) and the gesture of divine blessing. She has a retinue of four goddesses, identical in appearance to herself, whose names reflect the gifts they bestow as her emanations: "Wisdom" (Prajñā), "Insight" (Mati). "Intelligence" (Medha), and "Recollection" (Smrti). This form of the goddess appears in the art of Nalanda and Ratnagiri. Additional two-armed, white forms are described in the Sadhanamala. Sarasvati may be depicted in a range of poses. The crossed-ankle utkutakasana posture is most characteristic, but she may appear in a cross-legged meditative posture, seated with one leg pendant, or standing in a variety of stances. A four-armed, white epiphany in the Sakya pantheon bears, along with a lotus and musical instrument, a sword of wisdom. Buddhist texts rarely mention Sarasvati's swan mount, but the bird may be included in artistic portrayals, adopting the Hindu convention. The swan may be shown as her vehicle, her companion, or even her downy footrest. Red forms of the goddess were introduced in the Buddhist pantheon. One two-armed form, actively practiced in Tibet, holds a wish-fulfilling gem in her right hand and a mirror of wisdom in her left. She is invoked to quicken intelligence, but the miraculous jewel, source of bounty, is present to offset the poverty often attendant on intellectual pursuits. A red, six-armed manifestation known as Vajra Sarasvati, attested in both India and Tibet, has Tantric attributes, such as a flaying knife and skull cup.

The most explicitly Tantric epiphany of Sarasvati is the red form in which she appears in union with her consort, Manjuśrī, a male embodiment of wisdom and thus a fitting counterpart for the knowledge-bestowing goddess. Both have four arms-two for embracing one another and two left free to hold their implements. Sarasvati strums her vina, filling the universe with an ocean of song, while Manjuśrī bears aloft his effulgent sword and a blue lotus supporting a Prajñāpāramitā text. As he sits on her lap, their legs intertwine amidst the petals of their lotus throne. Attended by Sarasvati's retinue of four goddesses, the divine couple is "wondrous to behold, adorned with arrays of jewels, seated within a glorious blaze of light."

In Tibet, the wrathful Dharma protector Palden Lhamo is sometimes regarded as a fierce emanation of Sarasvati. To express this relationship, the lute-playing goddess may float above Palden Lhamo in paintings of the latter." This association between divine protectress and muse, on surface a puzzling one, is traceable to Indic connections between Sarasvati and Durga, a Hindu warrior goddess. In Hindu mythology, Sarasvati is sometimes cast as the knowledge aspect or speech aspect of the battle queen Durga. In the Buddhist context, too, Sarasvati is linked with Durga in the Golden Radiance Scripture. Although this work makes no mention of Durga, its description of Sarasvati draws on liturgies and iconographic conceptions of Durga in her buffalo demon-slaying mode. Although the connection between Sarasvati and Durga is not a prominent theme in literature on either goddess, it is apparently one of many aspects of Durga that left a stamp on Palden Lhamo. Pictured various images of Sarasvati.

3 notes · View notes