SARASWATI JI

GODESS OF LEARNING 7 WIFE OF BRAHMA JI

Although generally taken as the wife of Brahma ji, she is  a river goddess according to the Vedas. Saraswati river, in the vedic period, flowed down from the Himalayas but is understood to have dried up and lost its existence due to curse by sage Uthathya, to god of waters Varun, for abducting the wife of the sage.

ORIGIN

Saraswati Ji came into being from Brahma Ji’s head (therefore called Manas Kanya) when he was meditating while trying to create the world.

ABODE

Along with Brahma Ji, she is eternal & omnipresent. She is also considered to reside in musical instruments and items used in learning (inkpot/pen etc.). She is also known to be sitting on the tongue of persons at the moment when any truthful statement comes from them, some-what unintentionally.

IMPORTANCE

She is goddess of learning, knowledge and speech and is credited with the invention of Devnagari script as well as the invention of writterng itself, She is also known as the river goddess in Vedas.

TYPICAL DEPICTION

Milky complexion, beautiful, sitting on lily and playing Vina (lute), Also shown riding swan or peacock, her vehicles.

SOME TEMPLES

Images of Saraswati Ji can be found in temples dedicated to other gods also.

Her sculptures exist in Halibid in Karnataka showing as dancing Saraswati Ji.

As Sharda, she is worshipped in Maihar Temple situated on Trikoot Hill in M.P. Maihar is lang for Mai ka Haar (Garland of Devi) which fell on the hilltop.

RELATED FESTIVALS

She is worshipped in schools with morning prayers.

Basant Panchmi, when winter is over, is a special day for her worship.

OTHER INTERSTING INFORMATION

In Vedas, Saraswati Ji is associated with river Saraswati but later recognized more as goddess of knowledge encompassing all creative arts and one who bestows poets, artists, musicians etc.

She is understood to have cursed Laksmi Ji to appear as a plant on earth. Tulsi is a result of this curse. In retaliation , Lakshmi ji cursed her to appear on earth as a river which happened to be river Saraswati.

Myth has it that once when Brahma Ji was performing a religious ceremony and wanted his wife Saraswati ji to be his side, she did not come on time. Furious Brahma Ji told attending gods to fetch the first  woman they see, for substituting Saraswati Ji. Gods went out and saw one milkmaid named Gayatri, brought her to Brahma Ji, who instantly married her and gave her Saraswati ji’s place and performed the ceremony. When Saraswati Ji finally turned up, she was very annoyed and cursed all present there as follows:-

Brahma Ji –You will nit be worshipped

Vishnu Ji – You will be born as man on earth and suffer separation from your wife (later incarnated as Ram Chandr Ji)

Shiv Ji –You will deprived of manhood

Indr – You will lose your divine kingdom

Agni – You will have to recklessly consume everything whether good or bad.

Brahmans (priest) –You will be confined  to perform poojas only, depending on food offered by devitees.

Lakshmi ji –You will remain with sinners.

Other Goddesses –None of you will bear children

However, Gayatri Ji took this opportunity to marginally modify Saraswati Ji’s curse, to the benefit of those cursed.

Actually this milkmaid was none other than personification of Gayatri, the Vedic hymn.

According to Hindu scriptures, Saraswati Ji is among the five goddess which emerged (along with Parvati Ji, Lakshmi ji, Savitri Ji & Radha Ji) from the supreme spirit, endowed with the force of learning.

According to earlier mythology, Saraswat ji was on of the wive of Vishnu ji, along with Laxmi Ji & Ganga Ji. Once Saraswati Jig or jealous of sharing Vishnu Ji with the other two and cursed Laksmi Ji to become plant Tulsi and Ganga Ji to become a river in earth where people would wash off their sins. In retaliation, Ganga Ji also cursed Saraswati Ji to become a river to flow in the nether world.

SHIV JI

DESTROYER OF EVIL

Shiv Ji is associated with snakes (round his neck) an tiger skin (as his aasan). According to one legend, once Shiv Ji, accompanied by Vishnu Ji in the guise of a beautiful woman, appeared to subdue a group of hermits who were against religious orthodoxy. To counter this, the hermits uleased a fierce tiger and set it against Shiv Ji, who killed it and took its skin, to use it later as his aasan. Next, the hermits released a cobra to attack Shiv Ji, who tamed it also and placed it round his neck. Lastly, the hermits sent to a fierce dwarf to attack Shiv Ji, who put it under his feet and started performing a brilliant dance. After all this, the hermits acknowledged Shiv Ji as Pashupati, the master of animals. It may be noted that this also symbolises Shiv Ji’s control on animals instincts in humans.

ORIGIN

Sprang from the forehead of Braahma Ji,

ABODE

He is also omnipresent but his favoured place is Mount Kailas located in the Himalayas. Other places frequented  by him include Kashi and Triumbakeshwar located in Uttarachal and Maharashtra respectively. Shiv Ji is one among the holy trinity. He represents generation, destruction and regeneration. Origin of the practice of yog is credited to him.

SOME OTHER NAMES/EPITHET

Ardhnarishwar          Trinetra

Adinath                       Trinayana

Bhambhru                  Mrityunjaya

Bhima                         Tapakeshwsar

Bhairon                      Tribhunvan

Ekambereshwar       Mahadev

Gangadhar                 Neelkanth

Kailashpati                 Vishwanath

Ishan                            Natraj

Shankar                       Vaidyanath

Jatadhar                      Pashupati

Shambhu                     Yogiraj

Sarva                             Rudra

Sadashiv                      Yogeshwar

Mahesh                        Mahakal

TYPICAL DEPICTION

Sitting on a tiger skin, cobras around neck, long hair tied into a mop atop head, crescent on the mop of hair (acquired during samudra manthan), Ganga falling from above on to his head and then flowing down, holding trident, ash smeared all over his body, holding mendicant’s bowl. Accompanying him usually, are his wife Parvati Ji, son Ganesh Ji and his vehicle bull, named Nandi.

. A drum (damru) is also shown with him, either in his hand or affixed to his trident.

. A third eye on the forehead, which when opened, can destroy anything, even the whole universe.

. Represented as Shivling, symbolising his generative power.

SOME TEMPLES

. Chidambaram Temple (TN)

. 12 Jyotrilings said to be of divine origin (Somnath in Gujarat, Mahakaleshwar in MP, Omkareshwar at the confluence of river Narmada & Kaveri  in M.P, Kedarnath in Uttaranchal, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Kashi Vishvanath in Varansi U.P., Triumbakeshwar &Vaidyanath in Maharashtra, Naganath in Gujarat, Rameshwaram in TN and Ghrishneshwar in Maharashtra)

. Tapakeshwar Temple in Dehra Dun, Uttranchal

. Amarnath in Kashmir

RELATED FESTIVALS/CEREMONIES

SHIVRATRI IN THE MONTH OF Magh is in respect of Shiv Ji. It is based on a legend about a hunter who was sleeping on a tree when leaves kept falling below on a shivling, as the hunter kept adjusting his position. Shiv Ji was very pleased and bestowed the hunter with good luck. This legend gave rise to celebrate Shivratri, when throughout the night, worshippers keep showering leaves on Shiv Ji’s image.  Mondays are observed as day of fasting by Shiv Ji’s devotees to please him.

OTHER  INTERESTING INFORMATION

Ganga was brought from heaven by sage Bhagirath and as earth would not be able to bear the impact, it was received by Shiv Ji on his head and subsequently released to flow on earth.

During samudra manthan, ocean threw up poison, which could destroy all living beings. All the fods kept back except Shiv Ji who happily drank the poison to save others. While Shiv Ji was drinking this poison, Parvati Ji got alarmed in an effort to prevent harm to Shiv Ji, she tried to hold Shiv Ji’s  throat. As a result, poison got strck in Shiv Ji’s throat rendering a bluetinge. For this blue tinge in his neck, he is named Neelkanth.

As Natraj, he is said to have created the basis for dancing. To destroy the world at the end of each cosmic cycle, he performs a deadly dance called Tandav Nritya.

Shiv Ji cut off Brahma Ji’s one head in a quarrel. Feeling very bad about it, Shiv Ji retired to Kashi (Varanasi), Living as an ascetic and surviving on alms. Parvati Ji as Annapurna, followed him there so that he gets food properly. This great service of Parvati Ji so impressed Shiv Ji that out of love, he hugged Paravti Ji so intensely that both of them got merged, giving rise to the form of Ardhnarishwar, half man half woman.

. Shiv Ji is associated with the phrase, Satyam Shivam Sundaram meaning truth, supremacy and beauty. Literally, in Sanskrit, Shiv means good and auspicious.

. Marriage between Shiv Ji and sati can be called the first love marriage in this world.

After the death of his first wife sati, Shiv Ji was very annoyed and kept travelling all over the world with the dead body of Sati. To bring normalcy, Vishnu Ji used his Sudershan Chakra to cut off the body of Sati in order to disperse it. These cut off limbs fell at defferent places which Shaktipiths. Shiv Ji is understood to guard each of these spots in the form of Bhairav.

. 6 of the 18 Puraans are addressed to Shiv Ji