Page:Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic.djvu/132

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108
THE PURAN1C DEITIES.

Sarasvati.

Brahmā 's wife is Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom and science, the mother of the Vedas, and the inventor of the Devanāgiri letters. She is represented as a fair young woman, with four arms. With one of her right hands she is presenting a flower to her husband, by whose side she continually stands; and in the other she holds a book of palm-leaves, indicating that she is fond of learning. In one of her left hands she has a string of pearls, called Sivamāla (Siva's garland), which serves as a rosary; and in the other is a damaru, or

SARASVATI.

small drum. At other times she is represented with two arms only, seated on a lotus playing a kind of banjo. She dwells on earth amongst men, but her special abode is with her husband in Brahmāloka.