The Wise Sarasvati: Goddess of Knowledge, Speech, Art, Music, and Learning

Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of learning, music, art, speech, wisdom, and knowledge. She is one of the Tridevi, or Triple Goddesses, with Lakshmi and Parvati. In the Rigveda, the name Saraswati refers to both a river and a prominent god. From the Vedic era to the present time of Hindu religions, she has remained prominent as a Goddess. Sarasvati evolves from "waters that purify" to "that which purifies", "vach or speech that purifies", "knowledge that purifies", and finally into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work, and anything whose flow purifies a person's essence and self. This work aims to examine the origins of Sarasvati in the scriptures and lore, the evolving rituals, rites, and customary practices of Sarasvati worship, and Her beginnings as a Vedic River Goddess to Her transformation into a deity in mainstream Hindu religion.