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Saraswati ((サンスクリット:सरस्वती), ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning.〔 She is a part of the trinity 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.〔Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, p. 1214; Sarup & Sons, ISBN 978-81-7625-064-1〕 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,〔(Vasant Panchami Saraswati Puja ), Know India - Odisha Fairs and Festivals〕 and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write alphabets on that day.〔(The festival of Vasant Panchami: A new beginning ), Alan Barker, United Kingdom〕 The Goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India, as well as some Buddhist sects.〔Thomas Donaldson (2001), Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Orissa, ISBN 978-8170174066, pages 274-275〕 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.〔 == Etymology == Saraswati, sometimes spelled Sarasvati, is a Sanskrit fusion word of Sara (सार)〔(sAra ) Sanskrit English Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany〕 which means essence, and Sva (स्व)〔(स्व ) Sanskrit English Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany〕 which means one self, the fused word meaning "essence of one self", and Saraswati meaning "one who leads to essence of self knowledge".〔Griselda Pollock and Victoria Turvey-Sauron (2008), The Sacred and the Feminine: Imagination and Sexual Difference, ISBN 978-1845115203, pages 144-147〕〔(Goddess Saraswati ) Kashmir Hindu Deities〕 It is also a Sanskrit composite word of surasa-vati (सुरस-वति) which means "one with plenty of water".〔(सुरस ) Sanskrit English Dictionary, University of Koeln, Germany〕〔John Muir, , Volume 5, pp. 337-347 with footnotes〕 The word Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and as a significant deity in the Rigveda. In initial passages, the word refers to Sarasvati River and mentioned with other northwestern Indian rivers such as Drishadvati. Saraswati then connotes a river deity. In Book 2, Rigveda calls Saraswati as the best of mothers, of rivers, of goddesses.〔
Saraswati is celebrated as a feminine deity with healing, purifying powers of abundant, flowing waters in Book 10 of Rigveda, as follows:
In Vedic literature, Saraswati gains the same significance to early Indians, states John Muir, as Ganges river became to their descendants. In hymns of Book 10 of Rigveda, she is already declared to be the "possessor of knowledge".〔H.T. Colbrooke, (Sacred writings of the Hindus ), Williams & Norgate, London, page 16-17〕 Her importance grows in Vedas composed after Rigveda and in Brahmanas, and the word evolves in its meaning from "waters that purify", to "that which purifies", to "''vach'' (speech) that purifies", to "knowledge that purifies", and ultimately into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person.〔〔Edward Moor, , pages 125-127〕 In Upanishads and Dharma Sastras, Saraswati is invoked to remind the reader to meditate on virtue, virtuous emoluments, the meaning and the very essence of one's activity, one's action.〔 Saraswati is known by many names in ancient Hindu literature. Some examples of synonyms for Saraswati include Brahmani (goddess of sciences), Brahmi (from being wife of Brahma),〔(Sarasvati, The Goddess of Learning ) Stephen Knapp〕 Bharadi (goddess of history), Vani and Vachi (both referring to the flow of music/song, melodious speech, eloquent speaking respectively), Varnesvari (goddess of letters), Kavijihvagravasini (one who dwells on the tongue of poets).〔Kinsley, David (1988), Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-06339-2, pages 55-64〕〔Edward Balf, , page 534〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saraswati」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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