Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, knowledge, learning and arts, performing arts, music and speech, According to Bansi

Pandit, the Sanskrit word sara means essence and swa means self. Thus Saraswati means the essence of self representing the free flow of wisdom and consciousness. She is the mother of the Vedas, and chants to her, called the 'Saraswati Vandana' often begin and end Vedic lessons. She is represented in mythology as the divine consort of the Hindu Lord Brahma, creator of the universe. Saraswati is the daughter of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. Saraswati is the sister of Lakshmi and her name is also spelled Sarasvati. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning: Mind (Manas) Intellect (buddhi) Alertness (chita) and Ego (Ahankara) She has sacred scriptures in one hand and a lotus the symbol of true knowledge in the second. With her other four hands she plays the music of love and life on a string instrument called the veena. She is dressed in white the symbol of purity and rides on a white swan symbolizing Sattwa Guna or purity. Saraswati is also a prominent figure in Buddhist iconography - the consort of Manjushri. The learned and the erudite attach greater importance to the worship of goddess Saraswati. As a practice, only educated people worship her for knowledge and wisdom. They believe that only Saraswati can grant them 'moksha' - the final liberation of the soul. Most commonly Saraswati is worshipped by students, scholars, teachers, scientists, artists, and all who are interested in knowledge of Hindus and celebrated with great prayer in temples, homes and educational institutes alike. Saraswati's birthday - Vasant Panchami - is a Hindu festival celebrated every year on the 5 th day of the bright fortnight called Sri Panchami of the lunar month of Magha. The festival seems to be connected with old festival of kaumudi ustav and basant ustav. The Basant utsav begins with the day of the Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is also worshipped in time of Durga Puja and Basanti Puja with her mother Durga. It is natural to ask why this festival is observed at such a time. The answer is straight forward. The people of Eastern India (West Bengal) and Bangladesh are in general ignorant of royal grandeur. They have a little knowledge of the world. Their knowledge is limited to their native village. Being happy with the good harvest of late winter with knowledge about their surroundings, they find good opportunities to thank God. This they do in the form of the worship of the Goddess-one of the consorts of God. Special feature of the festival is that people give up totally the work of reading and writing on the day of Puja. From the old to the young devotees have showed their offerings on the Goddess they begin to eat dish which is prepared for this occasion. On the next day, the pieces of paper are prepared by writing sacred names on them, they were offered to the Goddess. Then the devotees can begin their intellectual work again.