Goddess
Saraswathi is the consort of Lord Brahma (Lord of Creation)
and is the Goddess of wisdom and learning. She is considered
as the personification of all knowledge - arts, sciences,
crafts and all skills. She is seen as a beautiful and elegant
presence, pure white in colour, clad in a white sari, seated
on a white lotus, representing purity and brilliance.
She
is depicted with four hands. In one hand she holds a book
and in the other a rosary. With her other two hands, she
is seen playing the veena. Her vahana is the swan and sometimes
a peacock is shown accompanying her.
The swan is known for its exceptional characteristic of
being capable of seperating out water from milk, indicating
that we should possess discrimination to segregate the bad
from the good.
Like Brahma, she is not worshipped much in temples. However,
every year the Saraswathi Pooja (Navarathiri) is celebrated
by all - schools, students, workers, craftsmen, businessmen
offering their prayers for a successful and fruitful coming
year.