A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1619

c5.1619

SĀRASWATA. 1. In the Mahā-bhārata the Rishi Sāraswata is represented as being the son of the personified river Saraswatī. In a time of great drought he was fed with fish by his mother, and so was enabled to keep up his knowledge of the Vedas, while other Brāhmans were reduced to such straits for the means of subsistence that study was neglected and the Vedas were lost. When the drought was over, the Brāhmans flocked to him for instruction, and 60,000 acquired a knowledge of the Vedas from him. “This legend,” says Wilson, “appears to indicate the revival, or, more probably, the introduction of the Hindu ritual by the race of Brāhmans, or the people called Sāraswata,” who dwelt near the Saraswatī river. Sāraswata Brāhmans still dwell in the Panjāb, and are met with in many other parts. 2. The country about the Saraswatī river. 3. A great national division of the Brāhman caste.