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

Asherah

An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East. From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah. Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna. Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles. Asherah original painting available through Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America. All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...

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...

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...

Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body

I've been reading a lot about evolutionary psychology lately. It seems that what really made us human was the bond between mother and child. Our big brains force us into the world before we can even hold up our own heads. We essentially must continue gestating outside the womb. The learning and empathy that develops between mother and child in infancy forms the basis of everything we call love, and lays the foundation for our cooperative culture. Evolution, driven by the mothers. It's been a series of fascinating reads, and it's reminded me of the quote about how having a child is like forever having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body. Or, in the case of my painting, your whole heart. My heart and I, walking through the parking lot of the New York Renaissance Faire a couple of years ago. Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via S...

Jesus the Child

Jesus was once a child. The Bible is a bit sparse on this period of Jesus's life. However, there are many other historic documents that fill in the gaps. Father Roten and Father Janssen of the University of Dayton have compiled some of those sources for curious readers on the University website . From the Fathers' research: "Again on Sabbath , Jesus and some boys made fish ponds. The son of Hanan became angry at their working the Sabbath... Hanan kicked the pond of Jesus and the water spilled away. But Jesus told him that as the water vanished away so shall his life. (Arabic Infancy Gospel, 46) "One of the children moved with envy about the passages for water and overthrew what Jesus had built up. Jesus caused him to die. (Ps Matthew 26) "Jesus, playing outside his home made pools of water, but another child of Annas came and broke up the pools. Jesus complained, “You shall not go on your way, and you shall dry up like a stick”… The father came and complain...

Non Binary Mercury Symbol

The Mercury symbol is one of the symbols that has been proposed to represent nonbinary gender. Mars is traditionally the male symbol. Venus is female. Originally the Mercury symbol was a representation of Mercury's staff with its two entwined snakes. Mercury was a male god to the Romans, their version of Hermes, but snakes have represented the divine feminine since much further back than their co-opting by the Roman patriarchy. For example, the Egyptian Goddess Wadjet was depicted as a snake entwined around a papyrus stem as early as the Predynastic Era (prior to 3100 BCE). Someone crossed the staff sometime in the 11th century to look more Christian, which also makes the symbol look more feminine. Nonbinary, a mixture of masculine and feminine traits. Mercury, nonbinary symbol, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, buttons, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America...

Echoing Multiverse

Search This Blog