South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c10.s1.7

c10.s1.7

Sarasvatī or Vāgīsvarī, the consort of Brahmā, may be represented with two or more hands. In the former case she holds the book and the rosary, and in the latter the noose and the hook in addition (fig. 117).² Vāgīsvarī, who is referred to in *Mayūrabhanja* (Introduction, p. lxxvi) as a goddess worshipped both by the Buddhist and Hindu *Tāntrikas*, is described in the *Pāncharātrāgama* as having three eyes and four hands holding in these latter the staff, book, rosary and the water-pot, which as we have seen above, are the symbols of the creator Brahmā. Two other allied forms of Vāgīsvarī are Dhēnu-Vāgīsvarī and Saubhāgya-Vāgīsvarī, both of which are mild in appearance and beautiful, but as Saktis in essence, they display the Saivite attributes of three eyes, the *jatāmakuta* and the crescent. The former, who is *logos* (Sabda-Brahmā) incarnate, is identical with the illustration from Bāgali given above. Sarasvatī, when represented as the goddess Sāradā (the form in which she is worshipped at Sringēri-matha, in Mysore) presiding over the sixty-four sciences (*chatushsh-ashtikalā*), has five faces and ten arms. The worship of Sarasvatī generally held on the ninth day of the Dasara is conducted by invoking her presence in a library of books and offering fruits, flowers, sandal and incense.