Sārasvata

Sārasvata

Sārasvata is a name used for more than one ṛshi and place in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Each is listed below with where it is told; choose the one you are looking for.

People

• Sārasvata Ṛshi: the son of Dadhīca and of the river-devī Sarasvatī, who alone kept up his Vedic study through a twelve-year drought and then taught the Vedas to sixty thousand ṛshis; the Bhāgavata names him among the knowers of Śrī Hari’s māyā. Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 51; Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7

Places

• Sārasvata Tīrtha: the tīrtha on the bank of the Sarasvatī where the river bore Dadhīca’s son Sārasvata, and where Bhagavān Balarāma bathed on his tīrtha-yātrā. Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 51; Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 26

Named in passing

• Sārasvata, the country: one of the countries Śrī Kṛshṇa passed, with Matsya and Marudhanva, on his way from Hastināpura to Ānarta, told on Kṛshṇa’s Return to Dvārakā. Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 10