Sarasvatī, Devī of Speech and Learning

Sarasvatī is the devī of speech, learning and all the arts. In the Agni Purāṇa she is honoured under the great name Vāgīśvarī, the sovereign mistress of all spoken sound. Chapter 319 of the Agni Purāṇa gives her full pūjā-vidhi (method of pūjā), with her mantras, mudrās (hand gestures) and the fruits of honouring her. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa and the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa add accounts of how she came into being.

Names and nature

In the tantra section of the Agni Purāṇa her chief name is Vāgīśvarī, she who is īśvarī (sovereign) of vāk (speech). This name shows that she is more than a devī of learning. She is the very śakti (power) through which speech, mantra and all knowledge are possible. Without the grace of Vāgīśvarī no mantra can be said correctly, no śāstra understood rightly, and no sacred text handed on fully.

She is also known as:

Sarasvatī, she who flows (sara) with the essence (sāra) of knowledge, and she who lives on the river Sarasvatī, the great river of Vedic knowledge.
Śāradā, she who belongs to Śarad (autumn), the season of clear skies and bright light, which stands for the clearness of pure jñāna (knowledge).
Bhāratī, the devī of Bhārata, the divine patron of all learning in Āryāvarta.

Her seat (pīṭha) is the tongue (jihvāgra). The Āgamas teach that the devī lives in the speech of every being.

This is told in the Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 319.

The pūjā of Vāgīśvarī

Preparation

The pūjā begins with the cleansing of the place and of the vāk of the worshipper. This is done by a special prāṇāyāma (breath control), in which each breath is offered to Devī as the śakti that gives life to speech. The sādhaka (practitioner) performs bhūtaśuddhi (cleansing of the elements) and then aṅga-nyāsa (placing mantras on the limbs). He uses the limb-mantras of Vāgīśvarī, and so places her presence in the limbs of his own body. In this way the body becomes her instrument.

An aṣṭa-daḷa-kamala, an eight-petalled lotus, is drawn as the maṇḍala for her pūjā. Vāgīśvarī is placed at the centre. In the eight petals her eight attendant vidyā-devīs are honoured. These are the eight forms of speech that make up the full range of spoken sound, from parā to vaikharī.

Dhyāna

For dhyāna (meditation), Sarasvatī is seen seated on a white lotus (śveta-padma). Her colour is white as the moon and she has four arms. In her hands she holds:

the vīṇā, the instrument of all music and learning;
the pustaka, the book of all the śāstras;
the akṣa-mālā, the rosary, which stands for endless japa (repeated chanting) and for the syllable-nature of reality;
the varada-mudrā, the gesture of giving every vara (boon).

She wears white clothes (śveta-vastra). Her ornaments are of moonstone and pearl, all white and all shining. Her vehicle is the swan (haṃsa), which stands for viveka, the power to tell the real from the unreal, as the swan is said to separate milk from water.

Mantras and mudrās

The pūjā uses special mantras and mudrās given in Chapter 319. The chief mantra is her mūla-mantra, a vidyā that holds her three names, Sarasvatī, Vāgīśvarī and Bhāratī, in a series of bīja syllables. The mudrās are:

Vāgīśvarī-mudrā: the gesture that calls on her rule over speech. The index finger and thumb are joined and the other three fingers are held out. They stand for the three levels of sound: prāṇa, manas and vāk.
Pustaka-mudrā: the gesture of holding the book, made when receiving her jñāna-śakti.
Vīṇā-mudrā: the gesture of a player of the vīṇā, which calls on the nāda-brahma aspect of the devī.

These mudrās are part of the pūjā and must be made in the proper order for the pūjā to be complete.

Homa

The homa (fire offering) for the pūjā of Vāgīśvarī uses white sesame (śveta-tila), ghee, sugar (śarkarā) and white flowers. All these are white, as fits her sattvic nature. Offerings of barley (yava) mixed with honey are also laid down. Each offering is made with the mūla-mantra. The fruit (phala) of the homa is described as medhā (a memory that holds), pratibhā (creative insight) and vāk-siddhi (mastery of speech, so that one’s words carry weight and take effect).

Fruits of honouring Vāgīśvarī

The Agni Purāṇa declares these results for those who honour Vāgīśvarī faithfully by the full method:

Vāk-siddhi: one’s speech gains power; what is said comes true; the voice becomes sweet and persuasive.
Medhā: great intelligence and memory, and the power to master any śāstra quickly.
Pratibhā: poetic and creative inspiration, and the power to compose ślokas, stotras (hymns of praise) and arguments of the śāstras on the spot.
Mastery of all vidyās: every field of knowledge opens to the sincere sādhaka.
Liberation: for those who meditate on Vāgīśvarī as cit-śakti (the power of consciousness) in the form of speech, the knowledge “I am the same as Vāgīśvarī” arises, and mokṣa (liberation) follows.

Her grace is sought most by brāhmaṇas who are preparing for public recitation (pravacana), by scholars in debate on the śāstras (śāstrārtha), and by poets, musicians and all whose work depends on the power of the word.

This is told in the Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 319.

Sarasvatī in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Origin from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, in Chapter 3, tells that Sarasvatī came from the mukha (mouth) of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa at the beginning of creation (sṛṣṭi). She appeared white as crystal, holding her vīṇā and a book. She shone like ten million full moons, and her eyes were like autumn lotuses (śarat-padma). She is the vāk-adhiṣṭhāna, the presiding devī of all speech, the mother of all vidvāns (learned people) and the beloved of poets.

Praise with the vīṇā and the stotra

When she came forth, Sarasvatī first sang the glory of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa on her vīṇā. She told of all his acts through every kalpa and yuga. Then she spoke to him with folded hands. She praised him as Rāseśvara (the master of the Rāsa), Rāsādhiṣṭhāna-daivam (the divine base of the Rāsa), Śānta (the peaceful) and Sundara (the beautiful).

The fruit of this stotra is that the one who recites it becomes buddhimān (intelligent), dhanavān (wealthy), vidyāvān (learned) and putravān (blessed with sons).

The gift of vāk at the Upabarhana revival

In the shared revival of Upabarhana, the gift of Sarasvatī was vāk, speech. She gave back the power of clear speech. The other divine gifts were prāṇa (breath) from Bhagavān Viṣṇu, jñāna (knowledge) from Bhagavān Śiva, sight from Bhagavān Sūrya, dharma-jñāna (knowledge of dharma) from Dharma, and kānti (radiance) from Lakṣmī.

Sarasvatī in the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa

Third form of Mūla Prakṛti

Chapter 1 of the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa shows Sarasvatī as the third of the five chief forms (pañca-prakṛti) of Mūla Prakṛti. Rādhā is the first, the own beloved Śakti of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Lakṣmī is the second, full of pure sattva and the home of all wealth. In this account Sarasvatī is white as snow. She always holds a ratnamālā, a garland of gems that stands for the greatness of the Name (nāma-māhātmya), and she lives in constant japa of the Kṛṣṇa-nāma. She is the Śakti of vāk (speech), buddhi (intelligence) and jñāna (knowledge).

Her constant japa of the Kṛṣṇa-nāma with the ratnamālā points to this teaching: all speech, all learning and all mantra, the whole field that Sarasvatī rules, is turned toward the one highest reality, Kṛṣṇa. The śakti of knowledge itself flows from Parabrahman and returns to Parabrahman.

This is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 1.

The Sarasvatī Upākhyāna, the quarrel in Vaikuṇṭha

Chapter 6 of the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa tells an upākhyāna (a side narrative). It tells how Sarasvatī came to be known as the river Sarasvatī and how she came to live in Brahmaloka as the consort of Brahmā.

In Vaikuṇṭha, the three chief consorts of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa were with him: Lakṣmī, Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī. Gaṅgā and Nārāyaṇa shared smiling, loving glances. Sarasvatī saw this and was filled with jealousy. She turned on Lakṣmī and blamed her for not stepping in. Then she pronounced a śāpa (a curse) on Lakṣmī: “You shall be born as the Tulasī plant in the world of humans and as the river Padmāvatī.”

Gaṅgā then pronounced a śāpa on Sarasvatī: “You shall come down to earth as a river and carry the pāpa gathered from all the wrongdoers who bathe in you.” Sarasvatī then pronounced her own śāpa on Gaṅgā: “And you shall become a river of the earth, flowing through the world of mortals.”

When the quarrel was at its height, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa stepped in as peacemaker. He comforted all three and settled the matter wisely. None of them would go down in her full presence. Only their aṃśas (portions) would descend, and their divine forms would stay in the divine realm. Lakṣmī would come to earth only in her aṃśa-rūpa as the Tulasī plant and the river Padmāvatī, while her true form stayed with Nārāyaṇa. The aṃśa of Gaṅgā would flow as the river of the earth, carrying the pāpa of the world, while she herself stayed in Goloka at the feet of Kṛṣṇa. The aṃśa of Sarasvatī would flow as the sacred river, while she herself would go to Brahmaloka to become the consort of Brahmā and the Śakti of all creation.

In the Brahma Khaṇḍa she is born from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa. In this account she takes her seat in Brahmaloka.

This is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6.

Fruit of the Sarasvatī mantra japa

The Prakṛti Khaṇḍa records the great fruit of upāsanā (devotion) to the Sarasvatī mantra. A person who does japa of her mantra for a full month, with focus and devotion, is changed. Even a mūrkha, one with no learning at all, becomes a mahāvidvān, a great scholar. Her grace gives what no outside study alone can give: the power to take in all knowledge and make it clear.

This is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6.

Sarasvatī in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, the Saro Māhātmya

Origin from the Plakṣa tree (Chapter 11)

The Saro Māhātmya of the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa gives a different account of how Sarasvatī came to be. She arose from the Plakṣa tree, the ancient first tree that stands at the source of all rivers. The Purāṇa describes her as smṛti-mātra-pāpa-hāra, one who destroys pāpa by being remembered. It names her as one with Para-brahma-tattva: “All that is significant, the akṣara Parabrahma and the kṣara (changing) universe, is contained within you.”

Mārkaṇḍeya composed a great stotra to her at the Plakṣa tree. In it he praised her as sarvaloka-janī (mother of all worlds) and as the ground within which the whole cosmos is held as in a womb. Sarasvatī answered that she would follow Mārkaṇḍeya wherever he led. He directed her to flow through Brahmasarovara, Rāmahrada and finally Kurukṣetra.

This is told in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 11.

The seven forms, Saptasārasvata (Chapter 16)

The Saro Māhātmya names seven forms of Sarasvatī who come together at the Saptasārasvata Tīrtha in Kurukṣetra. They are Suprabhā, Kāñcanākṣī, Viśālā, Manoharā, Oghāvatī (also called Oghanāma), Suvenu and Vimalodakā. The forms had been living at sacred places across Bhāratavarṣa, among them Puṣkara, Naimiṣa, Gayā, Uttarakośala, Kedāra and Gaṅgādvāra. The ṛṣi Maṅkaṇaka drew them to Kurukṣetra.

This is told in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 16.

The conflict of Viśvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha, Sarasvatī and the river of blood (Chapter 19)

The Saro Māhātmya keeps the narrative of Viśvāmitra commanding Sarasvatī to bring Vasiṣṭha to him so that he could destroy him. Sarasvatī was caught between the command and her compassion. She hid Vasiṣṭha beneath her current to protect him. Viśvāmitra was enraged and pronounced a śāpa on Sarasvatī: she would flow as blood for one full year. Rākṣasas drank from the river of blood throughout the year. When the śāpa ended, the waters of the river Aruṇā cleansed Sarasvatī and gave her back her pure nature. The rākṣasas, who had drunk the waters of Sarasvatī even while under the śāpa, were set free. This shows that the true holiness of Sarasvatī can never be destroyed for good.

This is told in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 19.

Sarasvatī in liṅga form at Sannihita (Chapter 25)

At the site of the Viśvakarma liṅga, east of the Sthāṇuvaṭa at Sannihita Sarovara, Sarasvatī Devī herself is present in liṅga form. A namaskāra (bow) to this Sarasvatī-liṅga gives buddhi (intelligence) and medhā (a holding memory). It is one of the liṅgas in the ring of divine presences around the Sthāṇu-liṅga.

This is told in the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25.

Sources

Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 319
Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa (Chapter 3 for her origin from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa)
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1 and 6
Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 11, 16, 19 and 25