Historical Development of Indian Music: A Critical Study c8.26

c8.26

Gangoly thinks that with the spread of Mahāyāna Buddhism to China and Japan, the Indian Sarasvatī has been identified with the Japanese goddess, Benten, who like the Indian prototype carries in her hands a lute (Vīṇā). Her full name in Japan is Dal-leen-zai-ten or the ‘Greek Divinity of the Reasoning Faculty’. This seems to recall the close association of Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī in Indian mythology. In earlier times, Devī Sarasvatī used to be worshipped in the name of Śrī or Lakṣmī on Śrī-Pañcamī day. Gradually the idea of Śrī, the goddess of luck and prosperity, was separated from the idea of Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning and knowledge.