SARASWATI

Saraswati is mostly worshiped for knowledge and education(learning and wisdom). She has one face and two hands holding vina -a stringed instrument and a book. Her legs are crossed and slightly raised and the vina is placed on her lap. She is white in colour, seated on a simply drawn large white lotus. Her legs are drawn up in an unusual cross ankled posture with her knees raised,presumably a posture for musical performance. She is popular with Buddhist ,Hindus and jains as well. The Buddhists regard and her as one of the twenty one emanations of the goddess Tara. It is said that she will help his disciples to increase wisdom and eloquence. Those who forget the meaning of sentences will immediately get her help in remembering. She is usually seated on a lotus seat with one leg pendent,playing vina. Since she is primarily associated with Brahma,her vehicle is a swan. When she is depicted in four arms form,she holds a book,a vina ,a rosary and a lotus. Saraswati is the goddess of learning ,wisdom and music. Her popularity spreads far beyond the borders of India to Tibet,China,Korea and Japan. Her ornaments are simple and restrained ,but a narrow,dark green scarf creates a flurry of movement around the figure.It floats in an arc behind her slightly titled head,then winds around her arms and drifts off in a circular maze to left and right. The harmony of the worldly and the divine seems to express the Buddhist belief that the ordinary and the transcendent(surpassing), samsara and nirvana,are one beautifully balanced reality.