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Rhiannon  
Sarasvati

Other names:

Location:  India

Notes from Hrana

Goddesses & Heroines text

 
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Hrana's Notes

I painted Sarasvati in 1992 for Llewellyn's 1993 Goddess Calendar.


Sarasvati
from Goddesses and Heroines
  Exerpt from Goddess & Heroines by Patricia Monaghan
[Used by permission. This text is NOT included in the Goddess Oracle]

As every Hindu god must have a Shakti, or enlivening female force, to function, so Brahma the creator needed Sarasvati for the world to come into being. She is not only the water goddesses, one of the trinity that also includes Ganga and Yamuna, but she is also the goddess of eloquence, which pours forth like a flooding river.

Inventor of all the arts and sciences, patron of all intellectual endeavors,Sarasvati is the very prototype of the female artist. She invented writing so that the songs she inspired could be recorded; she created music so the elegance of her being could be praised. In her identity as Vach, goddess of speech, she caused all words to come into being, including religious writings. Sometimes it is said that she is the rival of Laksmi, goddess of material wealth; if anyone has the favor of one goddess, the other will turn away so that no one is ever blessed with both Sarasvati's genius and Laksmi's blessing.

 
Back to TOP Text from Patricia Monaghan's The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines
Published by Llewellyn, copyright 1997.   Used by permission of the author.


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