Saraswati - The Hindu Goddess of Knowledge

 

Marble statue of Goddess Saraswati (featured in India Post stamp)

Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of wisdom is known since Vedic era. In the scripts of Rigveda, Saraswati is also a river. Goddess Saraswati is Goddess of knowledge, wisdom, learning, art, music, literature etc. In Eastern India, she is considered as daughter of Goddess Durga and Lord Shiva. Not only Hindus, but she is worshipped by Jains and some sects of Buddhism.

Ancient civilizations had different names for the goddess of knowledge and wisdom. For the Greeks she was Athena. Mighty Romans had Minerva. In the days of Pharaos, for the Egyptians she was Seshat. In Zoroastrianism, Goddess Saraswati, known as Sraosha, who is the guardian of Earth. It is said  that the souls, in the afterlife, are guided by her. 

Goddess Saraswati has different forms and names in different countries in Asia-Pacific region. In Thailand, her name is  as Surasawadee (สุรัสวดี). In China, she is known as Biàncáitiān (辯才天). In Japan, she is Benzaiten (弁才天/弁財天). In Myanmar, she is worshipped as Thurathadi. in Tibet, she is Yang-chen-ma - the melodious lady.

Saraswati in Thailand stamp (Source: Internet)

Pra Surasawadee of Thailand wears dresses of white colour. Her carrier is peacock who accompanies her. Interestingly, peacock is considered to be representative of pride owing to his beauty and associated arrogance. Presence of peacock with Surasawadee symbolises that external beauty is not permanent but the truth is.

In Japan, there are magnificent shrines of Benzaiten, one each at  Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay, Chikubu Island in Lake Biwa, and Itsukushima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. 

Enoshima is about one hour drive from Tokyo, connected by a bridge with mainland. The entire tiny Enoshima Island is dedicated to Benzaiten, the Buddhist goddess of wealth, music and entertainment etc. At the backside of the island there are  Enoshima Iwaya Caves. The location is considered to be holy, as it is said that Benzaiten had descended there on earth from heaven. The caves were unique creation of mother nature through erosion of rocks by sea waves. There is some similarity between the looks of Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Enoshima Benzaiten. While Saraswati holds Veena in her hand, Benzaiten has Biwa. Veena and Viwa are musical instruments of India and Japan, respectively. 

In Myanmar, students pray to Goddess Thurathadi before going for their examinations. In the idol form, she sits gracefully on a golden Hintha (or Hansa in Sanskrit meaning Swan). In Sanskrit, Saraswati is also known as Hansavahini, means that Hansa is her carrier. The idol of Saraswati is featured in pure white dress and seated on a white lotus, a white swan is found near her feet. White colour symbolises purity and truth. She has books and pen in her hands. Mostly the idol has two hands but a variety with four arms also found in Indian subcontinent. 

Painting by Raja Ravi Verma (Source: Internet)

The painting of Goddess by Raja Ravi Verma (one of the greatest Indian art painter) created in 1896 depicts her in four armed avatar. Thurathadi carries Tipitaka books in her right hand. Hence she is called Tipitaka Medaw. The deity blesses scholars, writers, learners and guards Buddhist scriptures. It is no wonder when it is said that Goddess Thurathadi has origin from Goddess Saraswati. The reference of Goddess Saraswati was found in a Burmese inscription, dating back 1084 AD. 

In Indonesia, the celebration is "Hari Raya Saraswati" which means the Great day of Saraswati. In the Bali pawukon calendar, the Saraswati Day is the last holiday. In the island of Dewata Bali, Dewi Saraswati is worshipped by the students and other learners of Hindu community. Devotees make offerings to the Hyang Aji Saraswati i.e. Goddess Saraswati. The Goddess has four hands and arms holding sacred book, gemitri/tasbih (set of beads for counting sacred recitations), musical instrument etc. She is found in white colour dresses with one white swan sitting near her feet.

Goddess Saraswati depicted in India Post stamp

India Post has issued commemorative postage stamp on Hindu Goddess Saraswati, not only once but twice in succession in the same year. In the year 1975, the first World Hindi Conference(10-12 January, 1975) was held in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. On that occasion, the first stamp on Saraswati was issued on 10 Jan 1975. The stamp featured a marble statue of the Goddess found out during excavation in 1917 at Pallu village, Hanumangarh district, the state of Rajasthan, India. It dates back twelfth century during the reign of Chauhan dynasty. Presently, the idol is housed at the National Museum of New Delhi, India. It is a brilliant example of Hindu/Jain sculpture of that era. The background of the stamp has a portion of Rig Veda in Devnagri script. At the bottom of the script the theme of the conference 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' is partially visible. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam means that the world is only one family – the basic foundation of Indian society.

After the World Hindi Conference, another world conference of language was held in India. This was the World Telugu Conference. Both of Hindi and Telugu languages are spoken by vast majority of Indians. While Hindi is considered as national language, Telugu is a regional language. The World Telugu Conference was held in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh state of India, and on that occasion on 12 Apr 1975 another commemorate postage stamp was released on Goddess Saraswati. Though both the stamps are identical in design, they differ in color. The Hindi Conference was of purple colour, and the Telugu Conference stamp was of green colour. Both the stamps were of same denomination - INR 0.25.

Students, learners and practitioners of art and music worship Goddess Saraswati on the auspicious day of ‘Basant Panchami’ which is celebrated on the fifth day of the month of ‘Maagh’. Basant season is the spring season and devotees, particularly the younger generation, wear yellow coloured dresses. This normally falls in the months of January or February, every year.

PS: The author was born on an auspicious day of Basant Panchami.

Webliography:

https://vedicfeed.com/goddess-saraswati/

https://palludevi.com/stamp-realeasevn/

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The noble objective of this blog, is to promote the hobby of philately through images of stamps, a few pictures and related narration. Some of the scans and pictures featured in this blogpost are mine while others (sourced from internet) are the properties of their respective owners. No intention to infringe any type of copyright.

The information provided in the article is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith. This is only for sharing of knowledge of philately with philatelist fraternity of the world. No commercial or political angle, whatsoever, is involved. Under no circumstances, I shall have any liability for reliance on any information provided in the story.