sarasvatī

sarasvat (saras), mfn. abounding in or connected with ponds &c., BhP.

juicy, sapid, L.

finding pleasure or delight in ( loc. ), Cat.

N. of a river (celebrated in RV. and held to be a goddess whose identity is much disputed; most authorities hold that the name S˚ is identical with the Avestan Haraquaiti river in Afghanistan, but that it usually means the Indus in the RV. , and only occasionally the small sacred rivers in Madhya-deśa [see below]; the river-goddess has seven sisters and is herself sevenfold, she is called the mother of streams, the best of mothers, of rivers, and of goddesses; the Ṛṣi s always recognize the connection of the goddess with the river, and invoke her to descend from the sky, to bestow vitality, renown, and riches; elsewhere she is described as moving along a golden path and as destroying Vṛtra &c.; as a goddess she is often connected with other deities, e.g. with Pūṣan , Indra , the Marut s and the Aśvin s ; in the Āprī hymns she forms a triad with the sacrificial goddesses Iḍā and Bhāratī ; accord. to a myth told in the VS. xix, 12 , S˚ through speech [vācā] communicated vigour to Indra ; in the Brāhmaṇa s she is identified with vāc, ‘Speech’, and in later times becomes goddess of eloquence See below), RV. &c. &c.

N. of a well-known small river (held very sacred by the Hindūs ; identified with the modern Sursooty, and formerly marking with the Dṛṣadvatī one of the boundaries of the region Ārya-deśa and of the sacred district called Brahmāvarta [see, Mn. ii, 17 ] in RV. vii, 95, 2 , this river is represented as flowing into the sea, although later legends make it disappear underground and join the Ganges and Jumnā at Allahābād ; see triveṇī, prayāga), ib.

N. of the goddess of eloquence and learning ( cf. above; she is opposed to Śrī or Lakṣmī [ cf. Vikr. v, 24 ], and sometimes considered as the daughter and also wife of Brahmā , the proper wife of that god being rather Sāvitri or Gāyatrī ; she is also identified with Durgā , or even with the wife of Viṣṇu and of Manu , and held to be the daughter of Dakṣa ), Mn. ; MBh. &c.