Saraswati · सरस्वती

Before she was a goddess with a veena, Saraswati was a mighty river that the Vedic seers praised above all others. How did a river become the goddess of every word we speak and every note we sing?

Sarasvatī means "the one who possesses flowing waters" — or, read another way, "the flowing one". In the Rigveda she is a great river, "best of mothers, best of rivers, best of goddesses" (Rigveda 2.41.16). On her banks the seers chanted, and the hymns they composed flowed like her waters. Slowly the river of water became a river of words.

Before exams, children place their books before Saraswati; musicians touch their instruments to her feet; on Vasant Panchami little ones write their first letters. She is dressed in white, seated on a white lotus, with a swan beside her — the colours of clarity. In one of her hands is a book, in another a mala, and two play the veena. But the oldest stories say the river herself disappeared…

• The river that vanished
• Vak — the goddess of speech
• Her symbols
• Beyond India
• Festivals
• What Saraswati teaches

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• Rigveda — 1.3.10, 2.41.16, 6.61
• Mahabharata — Shalya Parva (Vinashana)
• Padma Purana