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Saraswati- Edward Moor

In the Asiatic Miscellany, Vol. I and in Sir W Jones’s Works, Vol.XIII. 315, will be found a spirited hymn, addressed to this goddess. From the argument prefixed to it I extract the following passages.– "The Hindu goddesses are uniformly represented as the subordinate powers of their respective lords: Thus Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu the Preserver, is the goddess of abundance and prosperity; Bhava’ni, the wife of Mah’ade’va, is the genial power of fecundity; and Saraswati, whose husband was the Creator Brahma, possesses the powers of Imagination and Invention, which may justly be termed creative. She is, therefore, adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially of Music and Rhetoric; as the inventress of the Sanskrit language, of the Devanagiri characters, and of the sciences which writing perpetuates: So that her attributes correspond with those of Minerva Musica, in Greece or Italy, who invented the flute, and presided over literature. In this character she is addressed in the ode; and particularly as the Goddess of Harmony, since the Hindus usually paint her with a musical instrument in her hand. The seven notes, an artful combination of which constitutes Music, and variously affects the passions, are feigned to be her earliest production. And the greatest part of the hymn exhibits a correct delineation of the Ragmala, or Necklace of Musical Modes, which may be considered as the most pleasing invention of the ancient Hindus, and the most beautiful union of painting with poetical mythology and the genuine theory of music.¹"

The name Saraswati means flowing: Applicable both to the river, and the goddess of eloquence. Va’chi, Lepita, have meanings chiefly referrible to speech or speaking. She is also called Va’nt, Bra’hmi or Brahmani, and by several other names².

The last watch of the night is peculiarly sacred to Saraswati, "Let the housekeeper wake in the time sacred to Bra’hmi, the goddess of speech, that is in the last watch of the night; let him then reflect on virtue and virtuous emoluments, and on the whole meaning and very essence of the Veda."—Menu, Ch. IV. v. 92.

The fifth day of the month Magha is called Sri-panchami, on which Saraswati, or Sri, the goddess of arts and eloquence, is worshipped with offerings of perfumes, flowers, and dressed rice: Even the implements of writing, and books, are treated with respect, and are not used of this holiday. The following meditation on this goddess will furnish a description of her person and attributes. "May the goddess of speech enable us to attain all possible felicity; she who wears on her locks a young moon; who shines with exquisite luster, whose body bends with the weight of her full breasts; who sits reclined on a white lotos; and from the crimson lotos of her hands pours radiance on the implements of writing, and on the books produced by her favor."—As. Res. Vol. III. P. 273³.

Saraswati is, among other deities, especially propitiated in the marriage ceremonies of the Brahmans: The following hymn is chanted in her honor.–"Charming Saraswati! Swift as a mare, whom I celebrate in the face of this universe, protect this solemn rite. O thou! In whom the elements were produced, in whom this universe was framed, I will now sing that hymn," (the nuptial text) "which constitutes the highest glory of women,"—Colebroke, As. Res. Vol. VII. p. 303.

Whatever deity a Hindu may have occasion to invoke, whether god or goddess, superior or inferior, he will array his patron in the attributes of the Almighty himself. The ardent imagination of a poet knows no restraint; but we must recollect that a female deity is actually her lord: Saraswati is the active energy or power of her consort Brahma—his Sakti; slie is therefore endowed with his attribute of creation. And, in the preceding and following extracts, we see her, not unappropriately, invoked as the being "in whom the elements were produced, in whom this universe was framed;" and also gifted with the peculiar powers and attributes of other deities.

In the following extract from Colebroke’s Essay on the Vedas, As. Res. Vol. VIII p. 402, the origin and attributes of this beneficent deity will more fully appear. "Near the close of the tenth chapter" (of the tenth book of the Rigveda), "a hymn is spoken by Va’ch, daughter of Ambhri Na, in praise of herself as the supreme universal soul. Va’ch signifies speech; and she is the active power of Brahma, proceeding from him. The following is a literalversion of this hymn, which is expounded by the commentator consistently with the theological doctrines of the Vedas.

"I range with the Rudras, with the Vasus, with the Adityas, and with the Viswadevas. I uphold both the sun and the ocean, (Mitra and Varuna,) the firmament (Indra) and fire, and both the Aswins. I support the moon, (Soma) destroyer (of foes), and (the sun entitled) Twashti, Pushan, or Bhaga. I grant wealth to the honest votary who performs sacrifices, offers oblations, and satisfies (the deities). Me, who am the queen, the conferrer of wealth, the possessor of knowledge, and first of such as merit worship, the gods render, universally, present everywhere, and pervader of all beings. He who eats food through me, as he who sees, or who breathes, or who hears, through me, yet knows me not, is lost; hear then the faith which I pronounce. Even I declare this self, who is worshipped by gods and men: I make strong whom I choose; I make him Brahma, holy and wise: For Rudra I bend the bow, to slay the demon, foe of Brahma for the people I make war (on their foes); and I pervade heaven and earth. I bore the father on the head of tills (universal mind), and my origin is in the midst of the ocean; and therefore do I pervade all beings, and touch this heaven with my form. Originating all beings, I pass like the breeze; I am above this heaven, beyond this earth; and what is the great one, that am I ⁴."

In cases where a Hindu has lied, or given false evidence, the sin is expiated by an easy oblation to the goddess of speech. It has been extensively remarked, that the Hindus are more than usually prone to falsehood; nor can it be denied, that the discouragement of this offence is too little pointed, both in regard to the trifling degree of disgrace that attaches to a man’s character on detection, and to the too great qualification of the prohibitory classes of the law against lying. Falsehood is not only tolerated in some cases of evidence, but is declared, in special affairs, to be even preferable to truth: A few texts from Manu will evince this. Ch. VIII. v. 103.– "In some cases a giver of false evidence, from a pious motive, even though he know the truth, shall not lose a seat in heaven: Such evidence wise men call the speech of the gods.—"104. Whenever the death of a man, who had not been a grievous offender, either of the servile, the commercial, the military, or the sacerdotal class, would be occasioned by true evidence, from the known, rigour of the king, even though the fault arose, from inadvertence or error, falsehood may be spoken: It is even preferable to truth.– "105. Such witnesses must offer, as oblations to Saraswati, cakes of rice and milk addressed to the goddess of speech: And thus will they fully expiate the venial sin of benevolent false hood."

Another reason that, among the Hindus, deviation from truth is not held in deserved abhorrence, may be found, perhaps, in this circumstance: That, in their mythological legends, their gods are frequently represented as liars. One can scarcely help suspecting, that imbibing such notions in early youth must necessarily produce a pernicious influence on the principles and conduct of men.

Images of Saraswati are seldom seen: I have not one among my images; nor do I immediately recollect having ever seen one. Of pictures I have several; and some representations of her are given in our plates, of which I will now give some description.

She is usually drawn either two or four-handed: In Plate XIII she is the two-handed helpmate and associate of her husband Brahma; and has, of her own, no distinguishing attributes. In Plate VIII she is four-handed, holding her Vina, or lyre, a lotos, a cup, and a scroll: Which being noticed, which such other particulars as seemed to require it, we shall not dwell longer on in this place. In Plate XV she is also four-handed, playing on her Vina, with two hands; the others empty: She is here riding a peacock, and not, as one would expect, a swan, the Vahan of her consort, which, indeed, I never saw her mounted on. Riding a peacock, the immediate vehicle of Kartikeya, a son or reputed son, of Parvati, seems to connect Saraswati with the Sakti of the destroying power. Plate XX is engraved from two pictures drawn by an artist in my employ in Bombay, superintended by a Pandit, as will be noticed on a future occasion. I recollect no particular mythological reason assigned for associating the goddess of eloquence, harmony, and the arts, with the god of prudence and policy: It is, however, rational enough.

Some of the early Catholic Missionaries, who attempted to explore and explain the religious doctrines and opinions of the Hindus, discovered in their zeal, if not in their judgment, the history of the patriarch Abraham, and his wife Sarah, veiled under that of Brahma and Saraswati: Which names may, by those ignorant of the power of Sanskrit letters, be spelled Braham, or Brahama, and Sarah-swati. To an etymologist, transposing the final vowel is but a trifling liberty; and in the case of Brahama, making it initial, the required name is at once produced: And in the second name, say the Missionaries, the termination Swati is merely an epithet, equivalent to goddess or mistress. I know not if the zealous fathers found much coincidence in the respective histories of the compared personages, for I have not the books, in which I read the account, to refer to.

© "The Hindu Pantheon" by Edward Moor, published (2002) by Indogo Books and Cosmo Publications, 24-B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi 110 002. Reprinted with permission.

2 Thee, her great parent owns
      All ruling Eloquence,
   That like full Ganga pours hor streams divine
      Alarming states and thrones;
      To fix the flying Sense
    Of words, thy daughters, by the varied line
      (Stupendous art!) was thine;
       Thine, with pointed reed
       To give primeval Truth
       The unfading bloom of youth,
    And paint, on deathless leaves high virtue’s meed:
         Fair science, heav’n born child,
    And playful Fancy on thy bosom smiled."
         Hymn to Saraswati: Sir W Jones’s Works, XIII. 316.

Saraswati is also called Savitri and Gayatri;—but these names are subjected to very ambiguous usage in the Puranas. See Vans Kennedy’s Ancient and Hindu Mythology, 317, where many traditions from the Puranas will be found as illustrations.—Ed.

3 There is some difference of date in the time selected for the Sri. Panchami: It is in some parts celebrated in February; in other parts in Aswin (August-September). The following is a description of the festival. "The whole of the (pens and ink) stands and the books, if not too numerous and bulky are collected; the pens or reeds cleansed; the inkstands scoured, and the books wrapped in new cloth or arranged on a platform or a sheet and are strewn over with flowers and blades of young barley; no flowers except white are to be offered. Sometimes these are the sole objects of veneration; but an image of Saraswati stands in general immediately behind them; or in place of the image, a water jar; a not uncommon, although a curious substitute for a god or a goddess amongst the Hindus. After performing the necessary rites of ablution, Saraswati is to be meditated upon and invited to the place of worship, with some such mental prayer as the following. `May the glorious Goddess of speech, she who is of a white complexion and graceful figure, wearing a digit of the Moon upon her brow and carrying an inkstand and a pen in her lotos-like hands;—may she sitting on her lotos throne be present for our protection and for the attainment of honors and wealth.’ Water is then to be offered, for the washing of her feet, food for her refreshment, flowers or more costly articles, as pearls and jewels for her decoration; and three salutations are to be made to her with the mantra, `Reverence to Saraswati, Reverence to Bhadra Kali, Reverence to the Vedas, to the Vedangas, to the Vedanta and to all sects of learning.’

‘At the end of the ceremony all the members of the family assemble and make their prostrations;—the books, the pens and ink having an entire holiday; and should any emergency require a written communication on the day dedicated to the divinity of scholarship it is done with chalk or charcoal upon a black or white board. After the morning ceremony the boys and young men repair to the country for amusement and sport, and some of their games are of a very European character, as bat and ball, and a kind of prisoner’s base. School boys also used to consider themselves privileged, on this day, to rob the fields and gardens of the villages, but this privilege was stoutly opposed, and was all but extinct some years ago. In the evening there are entertainments according to the means of the parties." Works of HH Wilson, 189, 190—See also Ward’s Hindus, 5th Ed. 106—Ed.speech, she who is of a white complexion and graceful figure, wearing a digit of the Moon upon her brow and carrying an inkstand and a pen in her lotos-like hands;—may she sitting on her lotos throne be present for our protection and for the attainment of honors and wealth.’ Water is then to be offered, for the washing of her feet, food for her refreshment, flowers or more costly articles, as pearls and jewels for her decoration; and three salutations are to be made to her with the mantra, `Reverence to Saraswati, Reverence to Bhadra Kali, Reverence to the Vedas, to the Vedangas, to the Vedanta and to all sects of learning.’

‘At the end of the ceremony all the members of the family assemble and make their prostrations;—the books, the pens and ink having an entire holiday; and should any emergency require a written communication on the day dedicated to the divinity of scholarship it is done with chalk or charcoal upon a black or white board. After the morning ceremony the boys and young men repair to the country for amusement and sport, and some of their games are of a very European character, as bat and ball, and a kind of prisoner’s base. School boys also used to consider themselves privileged, on this day, to rob the fields and gardens of the villages, but this privilege was stoutly opposed, and was all but extinct some years ago. In the evening there are entertainments according to the means of the parties." Works of HH Wilson, 189, 190—See also Ward’s Hindus, 5th Ed. 106—Ed

4  In connection with this reference to the Vedic character of Vach or Saraswati, the reader may refer to some interesting speculations on the primitive identity of that Goddess and Parvathi in Muir’s Sanscrit Texts, IV. 860—Ed.

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