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Review Essays of Academic, Professional & Technical Books in the Humanities & Sciences
Hinduism & Buddhism
Sarasvati Riverine Goddess of Knowledge: From the
Manuscript-Carrying Vina-player to the Weapon-Wielding by
Catherine Ludvik Defender of the Dharma (Brill's Indological
Library: Brill) The name Sarasvati evokes images of the
beautiful vina-playing goddess of knowledge and recalls an ancient
river that is now believed to flow underground, meeting the Ganga
and the Yamuna at the sacred confluence of Triveni at Prayaga/Allahabad.'
The fair Sarasvati embodies beauty, music, flowing water, but above
all knowledge, and, as the presiding deity of knowledge, the goddess
has been worshipped on a pan-Indian scale among Hindus, Jains, and
Buddhists alike.
This study traces the development of Sarasvati from her
riverine origins as depicted in the earliest textual source on the
goddess, the Rg Veda composed sometime after 1750 B.C.E., through to
her establishment as the deity of all forms of knowledge in epic
and early Puranic sources (up to the seventh century C.E.), as well
as in the oldest surviving Hindu, Jain, and possibly Buddhist
images (third to seventh century), to the goddess's depiction in
the most significant Buddhist source on Sarasvati, the Sutra of
Golden Light, whose earliest extant redaction is from the beginning
of the fifth century changes in the conceptualization of Sarasvati
occur, as evidenced by textual and art historical material, in the
socio-politico-historical circumstances of the times; I have,
furthermore, questioned both the identification of images that have
until now been called `Sarasvati,' as well as the dates assigned to
them. Moreover, the third part, on the Buddhist Sarasvati, consists
of a detailed study of the Sarasvati chapter of the Buddhist Sutra
of Golden Light in the extant Sanskrit, as well as in Chinese
translations from no longer existing Sanskrit versions. This sutra,
even in the Sanskrit, has not been used until now for the study of
the Indian Buddhist Sarasvati. There are no works that I know of on
the Chinese Buddhist Sarasvati (Biancaitian), and while the very
modest number of publications on the Japanese form of the goddess (Benzaiten)
are at least aware of this chapter in the sutra, none provides a
thorough analysis of its contents.2 The Sutra of Golden Light and
its Chinese translations offer a wealth of information not found
elsewhere on the Indian Buddhist Sarasvati, including also on her
interactions with other Indian goddess cults—interactions which
turned out to have a determining effect on her East Asian form. The
Sarasvati chapter of the sutra is therefore extensively discussed
in this part of my study.
The conceptual development of Sarasvati is examined in the
present work through textual sources, artistic representations, and
inscriptions. The time period covered stretches from sometime after
1750 B.C.E. with the Rg Veda, the earliest textual source on the
goddess Sarasvati, to ca. 700 C.E. with the early Puranas and images
of the goddess, as well as with the last Chinese translation of the
Sutra of Golden Light by Yijing in 703.
As Sarasvati is a river goddess, my study touches on issues of geography as reflected in Vedic to epic textual sources. The features of the river are lauded by the poets of the Rg Veda, and her course is delineated in some of the Brahmanas and, in much more detail, in the Mahabharata.
This study combines textual and art historical approaches,
but Ludvik has attempted a more in-depth, comprehensive, and
critical treatment of the sources in their respective historical,
political, and social contexts. Ludvik has not limited herself to
collecting textual references to Sarasvati and listing her images:
She studied, for instance, developing themes/stories by examining
their sources and each of their retellings within groups of texts,
addressing why and how long-standing discussions of `map geography'
or geology: Ludvik does not try to identify either the changing
course of the river, its location on the map, or the places on the
Sarasvati's banks mentioned in textual sources. The Sarasvati was a
far mightier river, at least in pre-Vedic times, than during epic
and subsequent periods. Much has been written over the last century
and many conflicting hypotheses proposed to identify the 'lost'
Sarasvati and to explain the desiccation of the region. The most
recent studies seem to indicate that the river flowed from the
Himalayas through the present Ghaggar-Hakra bed in Panjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, and Bahawalpur (Pakistan), and then through the Nara bed
in Sind (Pakistan), and finally debouched into the sea at the
present Rann of Kutch. As discussed by Yash Pal and others,
environmental changes occurred, and since the Sarasvati's channel
was structurally controlled by faults, tectonic factors assumed
greater importance, bringing about widespread changes in the
configuration of river channels. As a result, it has been argued
that the Sarasvati as described in the Mahabhharata is either the
same river, although much transformed, as the one praised by the
poets of the Vedas, or another river bearing its name. At any rate,
my treatment of the river Sarasvati here is limited to its depiction
in Vedic and epic sources.
This study is divided into four parts: I. Vedic Sarasvati,
II. Epic and Puranic Sarasvati, III. Buddhist Sarasvati, and IV.
Images of Sarasvati. The first three parts are textual studies
(Vedic, Epic and Puranic, Buddhist), while the fourth one discusses
art historical representations.
The first part on the Vedic Sarasvati revolves around the
gradual transformation of the river goddess into the goddess of
knowledge, examining the depiction of Sarasvati in the Rg, the
Atharva, and the Yajur Veda Samhita, as well as in the Brahmanas.
The Epic and Puranic Sarasvati draws on the Mahabhharata and the
early Puranas, addressing, in the epic, the mythology of the river
and its fords (tirtha), and the definitive establishment of
Sarasvati as goddess of knowledge, and taking up, in the Puranas,
the fully-developed Brahma-Sarasvati myth, in addition to the names,
worship, and iconography of the goddess. The Buddhist Sarasvati
centers on the contents of the Sarasvati chapter of the Sutra of
Golden Light in the extant Sanskrit and in Chinese translations. The
threefold depiction of the goddess as a deity of eloquence, as one
who teaches a ritual bath, and as a battle goddess are discussed.
The fourth and final part turns to art historical evidence: in its
first half, early Hindu, Jain, and possibly Buddhist images of
Sarasvati are introduced and examined, whereas its second half
takes up representations bearing iconographic similarity to the
eight-armed battle goddess of the Sutra of Golden Light invoked as
Sarasvati. Through both textual and art historical sources, the
present study traces the conceptual development of its 'presiding
deity' Sarasvati, goddess of knowledge, from the riverine origins of
the manuscript-carrying vina-player to the weapon-wielding defender
of the Dharma of the Sutra of Golden Light.
The beautiful Sarasvati, riverine goddess of knowledge, has
taken us on a long journey through texts and images: from the Vedas
to the Puranas, to the various recensions of the Buddhist Sutra of
Golden Light; from Jain to Hindu, to Buddhist representations, from
the manuscript and vina-bearing goddess of knowledge and music to
the Buddhist weapon-wielding defender of the Dharma modelled on the
demon-slaying Mahisasuramardini.
This study begins by looking at the Vedas, where the river
goddess, through her association, on the one hand, with the
recitation of hymns accompanying rituals performed on her banks,
and, on the other hand, with inspired thought (dhi) inseparably
tied to the composition of these hymns, was identified with speech
(vac). In the complex and highly organized ritual life instituted by
the Kurus in the establishment of their realm in the twelfth to the
ninth century B.C.E., speech, which was considered immensely
powerful, was of central importance, as the performance and success
of sacrifices both depended on flawless utterance. In its efficacy,
as we have seen in the Sautramani ritual, speech also functioned as
a healing device, appropriately placed in the hands of Sarasvati,
who was identified with it. Furthermore, not only potent in sound,
but also endowed with meaning, speech conveyed knowledge, most
particularly the Vedas, thus transforming Sarasvati into the goddess
of knowledge, as evidenced in the Mahabharata and the early Puranas.
Sarasvati's increasing involvement with speech was
paralleled by a systematization of the rituals performed on her
banks. The Pancavimsa Brahmana describes a series of sacrificial
sessions held at different stages on the Sarasvati's shores,
proceeding upstream from the place of her disappearance in the sands
at Vinasana to her source at Plaksa Prasravana. These mobile
yatsattra were then recast in the Mahabharata, in true epic
proportions, into a lengthy upstream pilgrimage, with stops at
numerous tirtha, where elaborate myths replete with Vedic allusions
were recounted. The shift in religious practice, from complex,
costly sacrifices to the simpler, devotional pilgrimage to sacred
sites, reflects a change in the audiences of the respective texts:
while the Vedas and their rituals were accessible only to the
twice-born, the epics and the Puranas were Ludvik addressed to the
widest possible public and hence many of the practices they
described and advocated were open virtually to anyone.
The Sarasvati river itself was depicted in decreasing
dimensions, reflecting what modern geological studies tell us.
While the Rg Veda poets invoked the Sarasvati as a mighty, flooding
river, flowing from the mountains to the ocean, the Pancavimsa
Brahmana informs us of her disappearance in the sands at Vinasana.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that at the time of the Rg
Veda the Sarasvati was still a powerful: river. The poets may have
recalled the once unrivalled Sarasvati of legendary renown that had
already, to some degree, diminished in size, but, which they
nevertheless described in hyperbolic terms.
The Mahabharata, in turn, with its expanded geography, had
the river disappearing at Vinasana, as in the Pancavimsa Brahman,
but reemerging at various sites, flowing underground, and
eventually emptying into the sea, as in the Rg Veda. Not only was
the Sarasvati's course made to appear Vedic, but through myths
accounting for her Vedic-like geography, the river's flow came to
be determined by Dharma, the central concern of the epic: to avoid
the unrighteous Nisadas, we are told, the Sarasvati entered the
earth, and to accommodate the twice-born Naimiseya seers, she
changed her course. The flow of the waters of the riverine goddess
of knowledge thereby metamorphosed into the flow of Dharma.
The Puranas, putting to good use the Brahmana myths,
clearly transferred Vac's associations to Sarasvati. While in the
ritualistic universe of the Brahmanas the creator Prajapati
(sacrifice) produced speech, and through speech, either as words or
as his consort, created the universe, the creation myth of the
Puranas was taken out of its sacrificial context, further
elaborated, and the names of the major players were changed:
Prajapati became Brahma and his daughter/consort Vac became
Sarasvati. As Speech in the Brahmana myth of the Barter for Soma
was associated with music and with the vina, the Puranic Sarasvati
as goddess of knowledge came accordingly to preside also over music,
symbolized in iconography by the presence of the vino in her hands:
she was worshipped, in the Markandeya Purana, to obtain full
knowledge of music, and she granted a vina to Skanda in the Vayu
Purana.
The Mahabharata and the Puranas introduce the humanization
of Sarasvati by depicting her as a woman with newly found relations
to other gods and mortals, including her father/spouse Brahma.
Sarasvati's human-like appearance occurs as a result of a number of
factors, includ ing Brahmanical precedent by way of Vac, who takes
the form of an attractive female in the Barter for Soma; the
emergence of the popular avatara ideology, in which deities
incarnate as humans, animals, and fish; and the increasing
pan-Indian tendency of producing images of the Hindu, Jain, and
Buddhist pantheons. Although the Matsya and the Visnudharmottara
Purana describe Sarasvati as four-armed, carrying vino, rosary,
water pot, and book, none of the extant early sculptures of the
goddess follows this iconography.
Hence textual sources from the Vedas to the early Puranas
present Sarasvati under four distinct aspects: as river goddess, to
identify her form; as goddess of knowledge and as goddess of music,
to define her functions; and as daughter-consort of Brahma, to
locate her in a wider mythological context, where gods and goddesses
are paired, in relation to a specific god. In the earliest extant
Sarasvati sculptures, both of her functional aspects are
iconographically represented: she appears as goddess of knowledge
in five Jain images, and as goddess of music in four (three Hindu
and one likely Buddhist) sculptures, with only one (Hindu) of these
representations combining both the roles, as Sarasvati plays her
vino and her attendant holds a manuscript. However, in the
iconography of the early Puranas and in post-eighth-century images,
the features defining Sarasvati's special connection with knowledge
and music, i.e., the book and the vina, are regularly conjoined. It
is as goddess of knowledge, nevertheless, that Sarasvati
predominates.
The Sutra of Golden Light, the most significant Buddhist
source on Sarasvati, depicts her, in the earliest extant redaction
of the sutra represented by Dharmaksema's Chinese translation of
417, as the preserver of the flawless speech and the memory of the
sutra's expounder. This corresponds to the first and earliest
section of the Sarasvati chapter in the Sutra of Golden Light, to
which were added two more, not found in Dharmaksema's version, but
included in the extant Sanskrit, in Baogui's edition of 597, and in
Yijing's translation of 703: Sarasvati teaches a ritual herbal bath
and is then praised by the Brahman Kaundinya as an eight-armed
goddess. The bath, as I have discussed, may well be a healing bath
inherited from the Vedic magico-religious system of medicine, as
well as a kind of consecration (centered on the abhiseka) ritual
familiar to the ruling class, to whom the sutra promises protection
for the state. Sarasvati's well established identity and connections
with water and healing in the Vedas rendered the goddess of
eloquence and knowledge an appropriate teacher for this bathing
ritual.
Kaundinya's successive praises reveal the presence of other
goddesses, including tapas-practising Parvati and Vindhyavasini,
worshipped in the guise of Sarasvati, in addition to an eight-armed
weapon-bearing form modelled on Mahisasuramardini and attributed to
our goddess of knowledge. Yijing's translation provides the most
extensive rendering of Kaundinya's praises, including the list of
the weapons carried in the goddess's eight arms and a Chinese
translation of a hymn to Nidravindhyavasini from the Harivamsa. As
we see, there are close iconographic similarities between the Sutra
of Golden Light's eight-armed goddess and Indian, Afghan, and
Southeast Asian representations of eight-armed, weapon-wielding
Mahisasuramardini. Chinese and Japanese images of
Biancaitian/Benzaiten were indeed produced on the basis of Yijing's
description, but no extant Indian examples, although they might
indeed have been made, may be cited. Since the Sanskrit text Yijing
was working from no longer survives, it is especially from his
Chinese translation (and from the Tibetan versions) of the Sutra of
Golden Light that we learn of the impact of the rising Warrior
Goddess cult on the Indian Buddhist Sarasvati. In the Chinese and
Japanese representations of Biancaitian/Benzaiten derived from
Yijing's description, furthermore, we can recognize the
far-reaching waves of influence of the Warrior Goddess extending
from India all the way to the shores of Japan. As noted above,
eight-armed Benzaiten, in a partly modified form, enjoys widespread
popularity in Japan to this day.
In conclusion, then, a twofold Sarasvati: the goddess of
knowledge, as Indians revere her today, with a natural, almost
expected, step-by-step conceptual development, versus her
battle-goddess appearance, entirely unknown in India, but a very
familiar form to Japanese as the eight-armed Eloquence Talent Deity
(Benzaiten). While the first is well entrenched in the Indian
psyche, the second seems to have completely disappeared from the
country of its origin, and, after a journey across East Asia,
established herself in Japan. The Sutra of Golden Light,
particularly in Yijing's Chinese rendering, is a unique document in
that it stands straddled between India and East Asia, preserving
both of these aspects side by side: the goddess of knowledge, in her
anterior embodiment as speech, is known by her name as Eloquence
(Talent) Deity and by her function as provider of eloquence and
memory; and the eight-armed, weapon-bearing battle goddess is
recognized by her form, modelled, as a result of the influence of
the growing Warrior Goddess faith, on that of Mahisasuramardini.
This newly assembled package embodies the meet ing point of
Sarasvati and of the great Warrior Goddess, merged into one
identity, which, although not surviving in India, by virtue of the
enormous importance of the Sutra of Golden Light throughout Asia,
has been funnelled to East Asia and struck deep roots in Japan. I
end, in a sense, precisely where my study of Sarasvati originally
began: at the monastery of Todaiji in Nara, in the Hokkedo, which
houses a large, eighth-century clay sculpture of the eight-armed
Eloquence Talent Deity, produced on the basis of the description of
the goddess in Yijing's translation of the Sutra of Golden Light.
Eloquence Talent Deity's name and function encapsulate Sarasvati's
Vedic, epic, and Puranic background, while her form renders visually
manifest the intersection of the Indian cults of Sarasvati and of
the great Warrior Goddess, replacing the manuscript and the vino of
the ravishingly beautiful deity of knowledge with the weapons of the
arrestingly ferocious battle goddess.
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