The Development of Hindu Iconography c16.78

c16.78

Bhattasali in his book, and I need only refer my readers to it.¹ The river Sarasvatī, on the banks of which Vedic lore and learning developed, seems to have played some part in the development of her concept, but there is no doubt that here also as in the case of her companion goddess, folk elements had much to contribute. In later mythologies she is sometimes connected with Brahmā (both as his daughter and his Śakti) and at other times with Viṣṇu as Puṣṭi, one of his Śaktis. Like Śrī-Lakṣmī she also was held in high veneration by the Buddhists and the Jains, and the latter assigned her a specially honoured place in the hierarchy as the head of the Śruta-devatās and the Vidyādevīs. In popular Hindu mythology she was given many names, the chief among which was Vāgdevī or the goddess of speech, who in the 10th maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda was assigned a unique position as the very embodiment of Śakti or the energic principle. As an independent goddess, when she is not shown as an accessory to Brahmā or Viṣṇu, she is usually described in such texts as Viṣṇudharmottara, Amśumadbhedāgama, Pūrvakāraṇāgama, Rūpamaṇḍana, etc., as four-armed, white-coloured, dressed in white garments and decked with many ornaments, holding in her four hands any four of the following objects: manuscript (pustaka), white lotus (puṇḍarīka), rosary, musical instrument (vīṇā), water-vessel (kamaṇḍalu), etc. There is no doubt about the fact that the musical instrument was one of the oldest emblems associated with her, though a manuscript was not also late in making its appearance.