Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 11, Part 2 (1969)
93 (of 150)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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July, 1969] THE IMAGE OF SARASVATI 291 Mahavidy膩, Guhyavidy膩, 膧tmavidy膩, 膧nvik峁k墨,
Yaj帽avidy膩, Mahavidy膩,
Tray墨, V膩rt膩 and Da峁囜笉an墨ti鹿
The conception of the five faces of Sarasvati may be extended
to the five Vedas in which Natyasastra is included according to the
new conception of the fifth Veda. Perhaps it has been reckoned
so, because it embraces all the branches of arts and sciences 2 So
this fifth Veda may be said to represent one of the faces of Sarasvati
obviously with the fact that she (Sarasvati) is also said to represent
the various arts and sciences and, therefore, appropriately is called
'sarvasang墨tasandh膩nat膩la k膩ra峁嘺r奴pi峁嚹�.鹿
4. The number of her hands and the objects held by them.
The number of hands of Sarasvati differs from place to place
in the Pur膩峁嘺s. It is really very interesting to take them all into
account. In the Pur膩峁嘺s, Sarasvati is mostly alluded to as having
four hands. But by some of her Puranic epithets like 'V墨峁嚹乸usta-
kadh膩ri峁嚶�, she seems to have two hands having a lute (V墨峁嚹�) and
a book (Pustaka). The Matsya-Purana, while prescribing certain
rules for making the images of the various gods and goddesses states
that Sarasvati like Brahm膩, should be made as having four hands.6
Like the Matsya, the Agni-Pura峁嘺 also prescribes that the image of
goddess Sarasvati should be made as having a book (Pustaka), a
rosary (Ak峁m膩l膩), a lute (V墨峁嚹�) and a water-vessel (Kumbh膩bja)
in her respective hands."
In the Vis峁噓dharmottara-Pura峁嘺, as in the other Pur膩峁嘺s, a
number of references puts forth her iconic character. At one
place, she is described as having four hands. In her two right
hands, she holds a book and a rosary, while in her two left hands
she bears a water-vessel and a lute.8 Elsewhere also she is pictured
1. Vi峁�. P. I. 9.120-21, Pd. P.V. 27.118, also cf. Ramaprasad Chomda,
The Indo-Aryan Races, A study of The Origin of the Indo-Aryan peiple
and Inititutions, (Rajshahi, 1916), pp. 228-330.
2. Nat 搂. I. 15-6.
3. I. Dowson, A classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, (London,
1961), p. 284.
4. BVP. II. 1.34.
5. BVP. II. 1. 35, 2. 55.
6. MP. 261.24.
7. AP. 50. 16.
8. Dr. Priyabala Shah, op. cit., p. 225
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