What is "saraswati"

Saraswati \Sa`ras*wa"ti\, n. [Skr. Sarasvat[=i].] (Hind. Myth.) The sakti or wife of Brahma; the Hindoo goddess of learning, music, and poetry.

Saraswati (, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning. She is a part of the trinity ( Tridevi) of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. All the three forms help the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to create, maintain and regenerate-recycle the Universe respectively.

The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through modern times of Hindu traditions. Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring) in her honour, and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write alphabets on that day. The Goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India, as well as some Buddhist sects.

Saraswati who is revered as a goddess of knowledge, music and arts is also found outside Nepal and India, such as in Japan, Vietnam, Bali (Indonesia) and Myanmar.

Saraswati was the first Hindi monthly magazine of India. Founded in 1900, by Chintamani Ghosh, the proprietor of Indian Press, in Allahabad, its success under the editorship of littérateur Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1903-1920), led to flourishing of modern Hindi prose and poetry especially in Khariboli dialect. It became the most influential periodical in the Hindi literature during the first two decades of the 20th century.

Saraswati is an outdoor sculpture of the Hindu goddess of the same name, installed outside the Embassy of Indonesia in Embassy Row, Washington, D.C., in the United States. The work was created by multiple Balinese sculptors and installed in 2013. The gold and white statue depicts Saraswati standing on a lotus with three young students at her feet, one of which depicts Barack Obama.