Om Aim Saraswatyai Namah
Om Salutations and Prostrations to the Goddess Saraswati!

Saraswati Devi is the classic example of a Goddess whose popularity has survived from Vedic times into modern Hinduism. While many Vedic Goddesses such as Ushas and Aranyani simply disappear in later Hindu tradition, Saraswati Devi not only maintains Her importance; She acquires additional attributes and Her functions expand - from River Goddess to Goddess of Speech, Learning and Wisdom.

Some of Saraswati's Epithets

Impeller of true and sweet speech
Awakener of happy and noble thoughts
Dwelling in the front of the tongue (Jihvagravasini)
She who dwells in sound (Kavijihvagravasini)
Mistress of speech (Vagsisa)
Possessing great speech (Mahavani)
The power of memory (Smrtisaki)
The Power of knowledge (Jnanasaki)
Whose form is the power of intellect (Buddhisaktisvarupini)
She who is intelligence (Pratibha)
The womb or source of the Vedas (Vedagarbha)
Whose form is all the science (Sarvavidyasvarupini)
Who dwells in all books (Sarvasastravasini)
Who causes books to be made (Granthakarini)
Mother of the world (Jaganmata)
Whose form is power or Sakti (Saktirupini)
Containing all form within her (Visvarupa)

Saraswati Stotras
Sree Saraswati Astottara Satanamavali

HER ICONOGRAPHY

There are a huge number of myths concerning Saraswati. The Brahma Purana says the Devi created Sarasvati from Her tongue, and from Her shoulders the science of Love

Despite her association with the Gods -- particularly Brahma -- Saraswati Devi is never with Brahma. Rather, She is always described as being an independent woman and not obliging to the Male Gods. SHE STOOD ALONE.

There is a myths about how Saraswati purposely delayed her presence when Brahma wanted to perform a major fire-sacrifice. Brahma and Saraswati therefore never made any joint offerings to the Fire God as man and wife. Despite much lore depicting Saraswati as married, she never really behaved as a proper "consort" might be expected to. Most often, Saraswati is depicting as living in a kind of self-imposed exile. Instead of channeling her devotion to her husband as prescribed by social norms (i.e., "a good wife is above all a chaste wife"). She uses her sexuality for purposes other than providing for her husband's pleasure and bearing his children. Saraswati instead sublimates Her devotion and directly maintaining a social order via Art and Culture.

Saraswati Devi's attributes come more from Her own role as River Goddess than Her association with any particular Gods. The Early Vedic references make it clear that the Saraswati River originates in heaven and flows down to the Earth. SHE represents the ever flowing stream of celestial grace that purifies and fertilises the earth.

Saraswati's earthly manifestation as a river is just a fractional revelation of her TRUE BEING. This manifestation offers just the slightest hint of Her awesome, heavenly, transcendent dimensions, and of reality in general.

Saraswati: The River and Water as Primordial Womb

The association of Goddess and river/waters are not confined in the Hindu tradition. Major cultures such as Egypt and Mesopotamia life creating waters are embodied as a Goddess. Isis the Great Goddess of Egypt began as River Goddess

In classical Hinduism, India herself is affirmed as the center of the world, the naval of the earth, and the special and sacred location of the divine. Saraswati River is an earliest example of the Hindu traditions of affirming the land itself as holy. Rivers with its waters began to assumed a sacred character especially in its religious ritual. The symbolism of water is rich and complex in the religious of the world, and among the many symbols of India endowed with spirituality, water is the most sacred, at once the purifier and the origin of the mystery. It is the real and imagined source of life . And the role of the water is clearly feminine