Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . he is said to be a son ofBrahma.* In addition to the names of Brahma already referredto, the following are those most commonly known :— Atmabhu, The self-existent. Paramesthi, The chief sacrificer. He as the firstBrahman performed all the great sacrifices of theHindu religion. Lokesha, The god of the world. Hiranyagarbha, He who came from the golden egg. Savitripati, The husband of Savitri. Adikavi, The first poet. * Dowson, io8 THE PURAN1C DEITIES. Sarasvati. Brahmas wife is Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdomand science, the mother of the Vedas, and the
Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . he is said to be a son ofBrahma.* In addition to the names of Brahma already referredto, the following are those most commonly known :— Atmabhu, The self-existent. Paramesthi, The chief sacrificer. He as the firstBrahman performed all the great sacrifices of theHindu religion. Lokesha, The god of the world. Hiranyagarbha, He who came from the golden egg. Savitripati, The husband of Savitri. Adikavi, The first poet. * Dowson, io8 THE PURAN1C DEITIES. Sarasvati. Brahmas wife is Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdomand science, the mother of the Vedas, and the inventorof the Devanagiri letters. She is represented as afair young woman, with four arms. With one of herright hands she is presenting a flower to her husband,by whose side she continually stands ; and in the othershe holds a book of palm-leaves, indicating that she isiond of learning. In one of her left hands she has astring of pearls, called Sivamala (Sivas garland), whichserves as a rosary ; and in the other is a damarn, or. SARASVATI. small drum. At other times she is represented withtwo arms only, seated on a lotus playing a kind ofbanjo. She dwells on earth amongst men, but herspecial abode is with her husband in Brahmaloka. SARASVATI. 109 Sarasvati having been produced from Brahma,was regarded as his daughter ; hence her union withhim was said to be criminal by the other gods. Some-times she is called the wife of Vishnu, but this diffi-culty is explained by a legend.* Sarasvati, by thestandard mythological authorities, is the wife ofBrahma. The Vaishnavas of Bengal have a popularlegend that she was the wife of Vishnu, as were alsoLakshmi and Ganga. The ladies disagreed, Sarasvati,like the other type, of learned ladies, Minerva, beingsomething of a termagant ; and Vishnu, finding thatone wife was as much as even a god could manage,transferred Sarasvati to Brahma and Ganga to Siva,,and contented himself with Lakshmi alone. Sarasvati is a goddess of some, though not o
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