Sarasvati (the Goddess of learning and knowledge)

The goddess of learning and knowledge in the Brahmanical pantheon is Sarasvati. She is associated sometimes with Brahma and sometimes with Visnu. Now the form of Sarasvati which is much more popular is associated with Brahma because of her vahana swan. 2 In India she is often represented as associated with various other vehicles such as lion, ram, peacock etc. Different Brahmanical texts like the Visnudharmottara, the Ansumadbhedagama, the Purvakaranagama, the Rupamandana · describe' Sarasvati as four-armed, white colour, dressed in white ornaments. She is described as bedecked with heavenly ornaments. She holds a manuscript, white lotus, rosary and a musical instrument in her four hands. Sometimes she holds a water vessel also. One of the important figures of Sarasvati is met with on a Bharut pillars. In this figure the deity is seen standine 1. HDIJBP, p. 108. 2. Sarasvati, fig. 14.

- 39 on a lotus in a graceful posture. She plays on a harp with her hands. A beautiful stone image is now preserved in the Nalanda Museum (Pl.XXVIFig. 1. ). The goddess holds an instrument with her two hands. She sits in ardhaparyanka attitude and places her right leg on a separate lotus below the seat. As a goddess of learning she finds mention in the Buddhist iconography. In Indian Buddhism Sarasvati is represented as seated and holding a Vina with her two hands. Sometimes she is depicted as having three faces with six arms. She confers wisdom, learning, intelligence to her worshippers. She is variously known to the Indian Buddhists as Mahasarasvati, Vajravina-Sarasvati, Vajrasarada, Aryasarasvati, Vajrasarada etc. It may not be out of place to describe here one image of Vajrasarada (Pl.XXVI,Fg.2 ). This image is made of stone. The deity, flanked by her four female attendants, sits, on a lotus in Alidha attitude and places her feet, whose ankles are crossed on a lotus pod. The sermity of the face and the sublimity of the whole composition are expressive of special beauty of the image. A tiny figure of the Buddha is placed in her crown.