Sarasvati

Sarasvati, or Saraswati, is the Hindu Goddess of learning, wisdom, music, and aesthetics. She was originally associated with the Sarasvati River, which, like the Ganges, flows from the Himalayas and is considered a sacred source of purification, fertility, and good fortune for those who bathe in her waters. Her name means flowing one and her water conferred divinity on kings when it was used in their baptism. Her role as a river Goddess may also extend to the Heavenly River, the Milky Way, which was seen as a road to immortality and heavenly afterlife.

Sarasvati is often depicted with four arms, holding a Veena - a stringed musical instrument, a book, and a strand of beads or ritual pot. She's known for brilliant white skin representing the light of knowledge. Her companion is a white swan or hamsa, who in myth is believed to be able to separate milk from water --a representation of Sarasvati's ability to separate good from evil. Source: Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen. Sarasvati is also associated with the lotus flower, which symbolizes purity, rebirth, culture, and enlightenment.

Sarasvati original painting available through Saatchi Art. Prints and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

Sarasvati is considered to be the wife of Brahma, but like Hera, worship of her probably predates her husband's existence. Barbara G. Walker writes, "Sarasvati was ... the Queen of Heaven assimilated to Brahmanism as Brahma's wife, a combination that suggests the biblical A-brahm and Sara(h). She was said to have invented all of the arts of civilization: music, letters, mathematics, calendars, magic, the Vedas, and all other branches of learning." Sarasvati was sometimes referred to as "Daugher of the Sun". Her role in learning and wisdom combined with being the daughter of the Sun reminds me of Sophia, the Gnostic Christian Goddess of wisdom and daughter of the Sun.

The goddess has her own festivals, notably the Saraswati Puja, held on the first day of spring, during which children are taught to write for the first time, since she created the Sanskrit alphabet.

Sarasvati is also the special Goddess of the Jains, "a religion that began in the late centuries BCE and emphasizes not divinity but transcendant jinas, highly evolved souls. Even this nontheistic religion could not entirely eliminate devotion to the Goddess, of whom Sarasvati was the favorite form." Source: Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghan.

The earliest depiction of Sarasvati that has been found is from Kankali Tila, an important Jain archaeological site excavated between 1870 and 1896.

Metal sculpture of Goddess Sarasvati dated to 132 CE, from the Jain site of Kankali Tila. Source

Her posture here reminds me of the lotus headed Lajja Gauri who birthed the universe.

Comments

Nuwa

Nuwa is the great mother goddess of Chinese mythology, credited with creating humanity. She molded the first people out of clay by hand. Then she got tired, dipped a rope in the mud, and swung it around her head to make more. Thus were made the nobles and the peasantry. She has the body of a serpent. Nuwa, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art .

Demeter, Fertility, and the Sacred Pig

Demeter and her daughter Persephone were honored every spring and fall at the Eleusinian Mysteries, held in Eleusis, a town near Athens. According to a 2018 exhibit in the Acropolis Museum, reported here , "Every prospective pilgrim had to sacrifice a piglet in honor of Demeter." It is likely that the piglets were sacrificed on "the second day of the celebration, since the pilgrims returned from the sea where they themselves and the sacrificed animals had a purifying bath." According to the exhibit catalogue, "piglet sacrifice in honor of the goddess Demeter was a common practice in the whole ancient world, both in ancient Greece and in the colonies." I've been pondering pigs lately, specifically in relation to the Goddess. Are the Jewish and Muslim pork bans related to Goddess worship? Insert shrug emoji here. In an article from the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Archaeology, about a bronze coin from Eleusis, the author writes, "T...

The Cycle of Venus

Learning about goddesses has led me to learn a bit about astronomy. Many goddesses and a few gods throughout history have been associated with the morning star and the evening star . Different cultures discovered at different times that both of these stars are the same celestial object, known today as the planet Venus - the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the moon. The internet contains diagrams of the cycle of Venus, but I couldn't find one that put all of the pieces together. So I drew one! Here, I use a symbol from reliefs of Inanna to represent Venus's current position in her cycle. She just transited behind the Sun (represented by the Norse goddess Sol), and has reappeared low on the horizon as the evening star, which she will embody for the rest of 2021 before vanishing for 8 days to reappear as the morning star for most of 2022 ( source ). The Cycle of Venus, as viewed from Earth, not to scale The disappearance and reappearanc...

Chang e, Moon Goddess

Chang e or Chang o, the Chinese moon goddess. The details of her story vary, but generally she is married to an archer who shoots 9 of the 10 suns to prevent the Earth from scorching drought. He is awarded elixir of immortality by the Great Queen Mother Goddess of the West. To keep the elixir from burglars, Chang e drinks it. The elixir causes her to float up to the moon, where she is separated from her husband, but at least has a jade rabbit and busy woodcutter for company. China's lunar landers are named after her. Chang E, Moon Goddess original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . In older stories, she also births the 12 moons. In some versions of the story with the archer, Chang e is reunited with him during the 8th moon of each year. The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates this reunion, and is one of the largest holidays in China. According...

Demon Cats

You've probably seen the happy, waving, beckoning Maneki Neko, but have you heard of her cousins, the Bakeneko? Bakeneko are demon cats. If a cat lives longer than 13 years in Japan and has not been treated like a god, it is likely to turn into a demon cat. It may kill its owner and shapeshift to take their place. If you have an old cat, beware. Every October in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, there is a bakeneko parade. I visited, through the magic of YouTube. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

Kumari, Living Child Goddess of Nepal

Kumari is the living child Goddess of Nepal. I learned about her today from a BBC video on YouTube, and made a painting based on an image from that video of a seven year old girl sitting in a cage on the street while people ask for blessings, give offerings, and take photographs. Once a young girl is selected as Goddess - generally before the age of 6 - the youngest was 1.5 years old - she is not allowed to speak to anyone outside of her family, smile, or let her feet touch the ground outside of the temple until she has her first period, rendering her unclean, impure, and mortal again. Kumari, child Goddess of Nepal, original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

Echoing Multiverse

Search This Blog