Relation Between Lord Brahma And Saraswati

[Dallas Querry]

Theword Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and as a significant deity in the Rigveda. In initial passages, the word refers to the Sarasvati River and is mentioned as one among several northwestern Indian rivers such as the Drishadvati. Saraswati, then, connotes a river deity. In Book 2, the Rigveda describes Saraswati as the best of mothers, of rivers, of goddesses.[13]

Her importance grows in the later Vedas composed after the Rigveda as well as in the later Brahmana texts, and the word evolves in its meaning from "waters that purify", to "that which purifies", to "vach (speech) that purifies", to "knowledge that purifies", and ultimately into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person.[13][14]

Saraswati (Sanskrit: Sarasvatī) is known by many names. Some examples of synonyms for Saraswati include Brahmani (power of Brahma), Brahmi (goddess of sciences),[15] Bharadi (goddess of history), Vani and Vachi (both referring to the flow of music/song, melodious speech, eloquent speaking respectively), Varnesvari (goddess of letters), Kavijihvagravasini (one who dwells on the tongue of poets).[16][1]

In the Tiruvalluva Maalai, a collection of fifty-five Tamil verses praising the Kural literature and its author Valluvar, she is referred to as Nāmagal and is believed to have composed the second verse.[18][19]

In Hinduism, Saraswati has retained her significance as an important goddess, from the Vedic age up to the present day.[7] She is praised in the Vedas as a water goddess of purification, while in the Dharmashastras, Saraswati is invoked to remind the reader to meditate on virtue, and on the meaning (artha) of one's actions (karma).

Saraswati first appears in the Rigveda, the most ancient source of the Vedic religion. Sarawsati holds significant religious and symbolic value in the Rigveda, as a deified entity embodying attributes of abundance and power. Primarily linked with the celestial domain of Waters (Apas) and the formidable Storm Gods (Maruts), this deity forms an integral triadic association alongside the sacrificial goddesses Ila and Bharati within the pantheon.[21]

Saraswati is described as a loud and powerful flood who roars like a bull and cannot be controlled.[22] According to Witzel, she was associated with the Milky Way, indicating that she was seen as descending from heaven to earth.[23]

The goddess is mentioned in many Rigvedic hymns, and has three hymns dedicated to her (6:61 exclusively, and 7:95-96 which she shares with her male counterpart, Sarasvant).[21] In Rigveda 2.41.16 she is called: "Best of mothers, the best of rivers, best of goddesses".[24]

As part of the Apas (water deities), Saraswati is associated with wealth, abundance, health, purity and healing.[25] In Book 10 (10.17) of the Rigveda, Saraswati is celebrated as a deity of healing and purifying water.[26] In the Atharva Veda, her role as a healer and giver of life is also emphasized.[27] In various sources, including the Yajur Veda, she is described as having healed Indra after he drank too much Soma.[28]

In the Brahmanas, Saraswati-Vac's role expands, becoming clearly identified with knowledge (which is what is communicated through speech) and as such, she is "the mother of the Vedas" as well as the Vedas themselves.[34] The Shatapatha Brahmana states that "as all waters meet in the ocean...so all sciences (vidya) unite (ekayanam) in Vāc" (14:5:4:11).[35] The Shatapatha Brahmana also presents Vāc as a secondary creator deity, having been the first deity created by the creator god Prajapati. She is the very instrument by which he created the world, flowing forth from him "like a continuous stream of water" according to the scripture.[35] This is the basis for the Puranic stories about the relationship between Brahma (identified with Prajapati) and Saraswati (identified with Vāc).[36]

In other Rigvedic passages, Saraswati is praised as a mighty and unconquerable protector deity. She is offered praises and compared to a sheltering tree in Rigveda 7.95.5, while in 6:49:7 cd she is said to provide "protection which is difficult to assail."[37][38] In some passages she even takes a fiercesome appearance and is called a "slayer of strangers" who is called on to "guard her devotees against slander".[39] Her association with the combative storm gods called Maruts is related to her fierce fighting aspect and they are said to be her companions (at Rigveda 7:96:2c.).[40]

Like Indra, Saraswati is also called a slayer of Vritra, the snake like demon of drought who blocks rivers and as such is associated with destruction of enemies and removal of obstacles.[41] The Yajur Veda sees her as being both the mother of Indra (having granted him rebirth through healing) and also as his consort.[42]

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, "Sarasvati appears above all as a sacred river, along which pilgrimages are made. She is also represented as goddess of speech and knowledge."[45] She is called "the best of rivers and greatest of streams", and with calm and tranquil waters, in contrast to the mighty torrential Vedic Sarasvati.[45] Her banks are filled with priests and sages (rishis) who practice asceticism and sacrifices on her banks.[46] There are numerous depictions of people making pilgrimages to the river to perform sacrifices and bathe in her waters and she often appears in her human form to great seers like Vasishtha.[47]

The Mahabharata also commonly presents her as a goddess of knowledge in her own right and sees Vac as merely a feature of hers.[48] She is called the mother of the Vedas in the Shanti Parva Book of the epic.[13] Her beauty is also widely commented on by numerous passages and in one passage, the goddess herself states that her knowledge and her beauty arise from gifts made in the sacrifice.[49] The Mahabharata also describes her as the daughter of the creator god Brahma.[50] Later she is described as the celestial creative symphony who appeared when Brahma created the universe.[13]

In the epic Ramayana, when the rakshasa brothers Ravana, Vibhishana and Kumbhakarna, performed a penance in order to propitiate Brahma, the creator deity offered each a boon. The devas pleaded with Brahma to not grant Kumbhakarna his boon. Brahma called upon his consort Saraswati, and instructed her to utter that which the devas desired. She acquiesced, and when the rakshasa spoke to invoke his boon, she entered his mouth, causing him to say, "To sleep for innumerable years, O Lord of Lords, this is my desire!". She then left his form, causing him to reflect upon his misfortune.[51]

Saraswati remains an important figure in the later medieval Puranic literature, where she appears in various myths and stories. Many Puranas relate the myth of her creation by the creator god Brahma and then describe how she became his consort. Sources which describe this myth include Markandeya Purana, Matsya Purana (which contains the most extensive account), Vayu Purana and Brahmanda Purana.[52] Other Puranas give her slightly different roles and see her as the consort of other gods, such as Vishnu. In various Puranas, rites for her worship are given, and she is mainly worshiped for her command over speech, knowledge, and music.[53]

Puranas like the Matsya also contain iconographic descriptions of Saraswati, which provide the basis for her classic four armed form holding a book (representing the Vedas), mala, veena, and a water pot while being mounted on a swan (hamsa).[54]

The Matsya Purana then describes how Brahma begins to desire her intensely and cannot stop looking at her. Noticing his amorous glances, she begins circumambulating him. Not wishing to keep turning his face to see her, Brahma produced faces on the sides and back of his head. Saraswati then leapt into the sky and a fifth face emerged from Brahma, looking upwards. Unable to escape, Saraswati marries him and they make love for one hundred years.[56][57] Brahma felt shame and due to his incestuous act, the god loses his ascetic power (tapas) and his sons are left to create the world.[58]

The birth of Saraswati from the mind of Brahma is also described in the Brahmanda Purana (chapter 43). Saraswati is tasked to reside on tip of the tongue of all beings, a river on the earth and as a part of Brahma.[57]

A legend in the Bhagavata Purana describes Saraswati as originally being one of the three wives of Vishnu, along with Lakshmi and Ganga. In the midst of a conversation, Saraswati observed that Ganga playfully kept glancing at Vishnu, behind Lakshmi and her back. Frustrated, Saraswati launched a furious tirade against Ganga, accusing her of stealing Vishnu's love away from her. When Ganga appealed to her husband to help her, he opted to remain neutral, not wishing to participate in a quarrel between his three wives, whom he loved equally. When Lakshmi attempted to soothe Saraswati's anger by reasoning with her, the jealous goddess grew angry with her as well, accusing her of disloyalty towards her. She cursed Lakshmi to be born as the Tulasi plant upon the earth. Ganga, now enraged that Lakshmi had been cursed because she had defended her, cursed Saraswati that she would be incarnated as a river on earth. Saraswati issued the same curse against Ganga, informing her that sinful men would cleanse themselves of their sins with her water. As a result, Vishnu proclaimed that one part of Saraswati would remain with him, that another would exist as a river on earth, and that another would later become the spouse of Brahma.[59][60]

Saraswati is a key figure in the Indian goddess centered traditions which are today known as Shaktism. Saraswati appears in the Puranic Devi Mahatmya (Glory of the Goddess), a central text for Shaktism which was appended to the Markandeya Purana during the 6th century CE.[61] In this text, she is part of the "triple goddess" (Tridevi) along with Mahakali, and Mahalakshmi.[62] In Shaktism, this trinity (the Shakta response to the male trimurti of the other Hindu sects) is a manifestation of Mahadevi, the supreme goddess (and the highest deity out of which all deities, male or female, are born), which is also known by other names like Adi Parashakti ("Primordial Supreme Power").[63][64]

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