सरस्वतीsarasvatī

an excellent woman (= स्त्री-रत्न (strī-ratna)), L. [ID=237587]

of a poetess, Cat. [ID=237590]

of various other women (esp. of the wives of Dadhīca, Śaṃkarācārya, Maṇḍanamiśra &c.), ib. [ID=237591]

of one of the ten mendicant orders traced back to Śaṃkarācārya (whose members add the word सरस्वती (sarasvatī) to their names). [ID=237592]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 6 An excellent woman.                  [ID=29830]

Sarasvatī (IV) — the mother of Sārvabhauma — Hari. Bhā. VIII. 13. 17. [ID=15528]

Sarasvatī (V) — a wife of Pūrṇamāsa; sons, Viraja and Parvasa. Br. II. 11. 12; Vā. 28. 10. [ID=15529]

[Printed book page 3-555]
Sarasvatī (VI) — a wife of Dadhīci. Br. III. 1. 94; Vā. 65. 91. [ID=15530]

Sarasvatī (VII) — a Laukikya Apsaras. Br. III. 7. 10. [ID=15531]

Sarasvatī (IX) — the mother of Danu and Diti by Āditya. M. 171. 57. [ID=15533]

Sarasvatī (XI) — the wife of Havyavāhana. Vā. 29. 14. [ID=15535]

Sarasvatī (XIII) — the wife of Ranti. Vā. 99. 129. [ID=15537]

the sea, Śiś. [ID=237553.35]

(H2) [Printed book page 1182,2]
सरस् (saras)वती (sarasvatī) b f. (of सरस् (saras)वत् (sarasvat), q.v. under सरस् (saras)) a region abounding in pools and lakes, Mahābhārata (Title) i, 7745 [ID=237578]

N. of a two-year-old girl representing Durgā at her festival, L. [ID=237589]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 7 N. of Durgā.                  [ID=29830]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 8 N. of a female divinity peculiar to the Buddhists.                  [ID=29830]

Sarasvatī (VIII) — a Varṇaśakti; worships Kāmākṣī. Br. IV. 39. 14; 44. 57 and 71. [ID=15532]

Sarasvatī (X) — a Mt. in the Himālayas. Vā. 23. 168. [ID=15534]

Sarasvatī (XII) — the name of a tīrtha. Vā. 77. 67. [ID=15536]

(H3) [Printed book page 1182,2]
सरस् (saras)—वत् (—vat) (सरस् (saras)- (saras-)), mfn. abounding in or connected with ponds &c., BhP. [ID=237553]

juicy, sapid, L. [ID=237553.05]

elegant, ib. [ID=237553.10]

sentimental, ib. [ID=237553.15]

finding pleasure or delight in (loc.), Cat. [ID=237553.20]

सरस्वती (tī) (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 766-03]
सरस्वत् (sarasvat) (I) a. (f. ती (tī)) 1. Having water, watery, juicy; 2. elegant; 3. sentimental. [ID=40085.1]

a river, L. [ID=237553.40]

N. of various rivers (esp. of rivers which in sacredness are equal to S° and which are three accord. to Atharva-veda (Title) vi, 101, and seven accord. to Mahābhārata (Title) ix, 2188) [ID=237581]

any river, Naighaṇṭuka, commented on by Yāska (subtitle) i, 13  [ID=237582]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 4 A river in general.                  [ID=29830]

[Printed book page 623-1]
Sarasvatī, pl. (rivers named S.).—§ 615i (Saptasārasvata): [ID=9541]

[Printed book page 3-554]
Sarasvatī (III) — a R. in Śālmalidvīpa. Bhā. V. 20. 10. [ID=15527]

N. of a river (= सरसती (sarasatī)), BhP. [ID=237553.45]

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 Ṛṣis 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 Maruts and the Aśvins ; in the Āprī hymns she forms a triad with the sacrificial goddesses Iḍā and Bhāratī; accord. to a myth told in the Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā (Title) xix, 12 , S° through speech [वाचा (vācā)] communicated vigour to Indra; in the Brāhmaṇas she is identified with वाच् (vāc), ‘Speech’, and in later times becomes goddess of eloquence See below), RV. &c. &c. [ID=237579]

[Printed book page 1182,3]
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, Manu-smṛti (Title) ii, 17 ] in Ṛg-veda (Title) 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 त्रि-वेणी (tri-veṇī), प्रयाग (prayāga)), ib. [ID=237580]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 3 N. of a river (which is lost in the sands of the great desert).                  [ID=29830]

Sarasvatī (II) — (Mahānadī) R. in Bhāratavarṣa of Brahmāvarta, in Kurukṣetra. Here Ūrvaśī enjoyed water sports with her companions when Purūravas found her a second time.¹ The Brahmanadī; on its banks Vyāsa composed the Bhārata, and his hermitage was on the western bank. Here he heard the Bhāgavata from Nārada.² Here Paraśurāma had his avabhṛta bath.³ On its banks was the Ambikāvana.⁴ Here sages practised tapas. At its source Pṛthu performed a hundred aśvamedhas.⁵ Lies on the way from Dvārakā to Hāstinapura. Flows west at Prabhāsa; was made to flow back towards a desert where Ambarīṣa performed sacrifices.⁶ When the sages per-
Page3-554+ 40
formed yajña on its bank, a question arose as to who was the superior god in the world. Bhṛgu, the son of Brahmā was deputed to find this out.⁷ Here are eleven places sacred to Trīta, Uśanas, Manu and others. Vidura had his ablu- tions in all of them.⁸ Kṛṣṇa sat under an aśvatta tree on its banks preparing to leave off mortal coil and asked Uddhava to go to Badarī.⁹ On its banks Kardama performed austeri- ties for 10,000 years. Its banks filled with hermitages, one was Kardama's. In it Devahūtī bathed.¹⁰ Visited by Bala- rāma.¹¹ Parīkṣit came to hear Dharma at the place where the R. flows East, complaining to Earth on the advent of Kali.¹² Defined.¹³ From the Himālayas; fit for śrāddha offerings;¹⁴ a holy river;¹⁵ sacred to pitṛs; flows from the slopes of the Hemakūṭa hill;¹⁶ flows through Kurukṣetra;¹⁷ scene of talk between Garga and Atri.¹⁸ sacred to Devamāta;¹⁹ in the chariot of Tripurāri.²⁰
[Footnote: 1) Bhā. I. 4. 15; IV. 19. 1; V. 19. 18; IX. 14. 33. II. 9. 44; Br. II.

12. 16; Vā. 45. 95; 55. 43; 108. 59, 78; 109. 21;] 

[Footnote: 2) Bhā. I. 4. 27; 7. 2.] 

[Footnote: 3) Ib. IX. 16. 23.] 

[Footnote: 4) Ib. X. 34. 2 and 4.] 

[Footnote: 5) Ib. IV. 14. 36; 16. 24.] 

[Footnote: 6) Ib. X. 71. 22; IX. 30. 6; IX. 4. 22.] 

[Footnote: 7) Ib. X. 89. 1-2.] 

[Footnote: 8) Bhā. III:

1. 21-22.] 

[Footnote: 9) Ib. III. 4. 3-8.] 

[Footnote: 10) Ib. III. 21. 6; 22. 27. 23. 25. 24: 9:] 

[Footnote: 11) Ib. X. 78. 18-19.] 

[Footnote: 12) Ib. I. 16. 37.] 

[Footnote: 13) VIII. 4. 23-4.] 

[Footnote: 14) Br. II. 16:

24: 27; III. 13. 69; 14. 83; Vi. III. 14. 18.] 

[Footnote: 15) M. 7. 3.] 

[Footnote: 16) Ib. 22. 23.] 

[Footnote: 17) Ib. 121: 64-5; 186. 10; 229. 3.] 

[Footnote: 18) Ib. 239. 18.] 

[Footnote: 19) Ib. 13. 44;] 

[Footnote: 20) Ib.

114. 20; 133. 24.] 
[ID=15526]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 2-434]
Sarasvatī ¹ is the name of a river frequently mentioned in the Rigveda and later. In many passages² of the later texts it is certain the river meant is the modern Sarasvatī, which loses
Page2-435+ 70
itself in the sands of Patiala (see Vinaśana). Even Roth³ admits that this river is intended in some passages of the Rigveda. With the Dṛṣadvatī⁴ it formed the western boundary of Brahmāvarta (see Madhyadeśa). It is the holy stream of early Vedic India. The Sūtras⁵ mention sacrifices held on its banks as of great importance and sanctity. In many other passages of the Rigveda,⁶ and even later,⁷ Roth held that another river, the Sindhu (Indus), was really meant: only thus could it be explained why the Sarasvatī is called the ‘foremost of rivers’ (nadītamā),⁸ is said to go to the ocean,⁹ and is referred to as a large river, on the banks of which many kings,¹⁰ and, indeed, the five tribes, were located.¹¹ This view is accepted by Zimmer¹² and others.¹³ On the other hand, Lassen¹⁴ and Max Müller¹⁵ maintain the identity of the Vedic Sarasvatī with the later Sarasvatī.¹⁶ The latter is of opinion that in Vedic times the Sarasvatī was as large a stream as the Sutlej, and that it actually reached the
Page2-436+ 51
sea either after union with the Indus or not, being the ‘iron citadel,’ as the last boundary on the west, a frontier of the Panjab against the rest of India. There is no conclusive evidence of there having been any great change in the size or course of the Sarasvatī, though it would be impossible to deny that the river may easily have diminished in size. But there are strong reasons to accept the identification of the later and the earlier Sarasvatī throughout. The insistence on the divine character of the river is been in the very hymn¹⁷ which refers to it as the support of the five tribes, and corresponds well with its later sacredness. Moreover, that hymn alludes to the Pārāvatas, a people shown by the later evidence of the Pañca- viṃśa Brāhmaṇa¹⁸ to have been in the east, a very long way from their original home, if Sarasvatī means the Indus. Again, the Pūrus, who were settled on the Sarasvatī,¹⁹ could with great difficulty be located in the far west. Moreover, the five tribes might easily be held to be on the Sarasvatī, when they were, as they seem to have been, the western neighbours of the Bharatas in Kurukṣetra, and the Sarasvatī could easily be regarded as the boundary of the Panjab in that sense. Again, the ‘seven rivers’ in one passage²⁰ clearly designate a district: it is most probable that they are not the five rivers with the Indus and the Kubhā (Cabul river), but the five rivers, the Indus and the Sarasvatī. Nor is it difficult to see why the river is said to flow to the sea: either the Vedic poet had never followed the course of the river to its end, or the river did actually penetrate the desert either completely or for a long distance, and only in the Brāhmaṇa period was its disappear-
Page2-437+ 50
ance in the desert found out. It is said, indeed, in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā²¹ that the five rivers go to the Sarasvatī, but this passage is not only late (as the use of the word Deśa shows), but it does not say that the five rivers meant are those of the Panjab. Moreover, the passage has neither a parallel in the other Saṃhitās, nor can it possibly be regarded as an early production; if it is late it must refer to the later Sarasvatī. Hillebrandt,²² on the whole, adopts this view of the Saras- vatī,²³ but he also sees in it, besides the designation of a mythical stream, the later Vaitaraṇī,²⁴ as well as the name of the Arghandab in Arachosia.²⁵ This opinion depends essentially on his theory that the sixth Maṇḍala of the Rigveda places the scene of its action in Iranian lands, as opposed to the seventh Maṇḍala: it is as untenable as that theory itself.²⁶ Brunn- hofer²⁷ at one time accepted the Iranian identification, but later²⁸ decided for the Oxus, which is quite out of the question. See also Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa.
[Footnote: 1) Literally, ‘abounding in pools,’

perhaps with reference to its condition

when the water was low. The name

corresponds phonetically to the Iranian

Haraqaiti (the modern Helmand).] 

[Footnote: 2) Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vii. 2, 1, 4;

Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xxv. 10, 1;

Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xii. 2, 3; Śata-

patha Brāhmaṇa, i. 4, 1, 14; Aitareya

Brāhmaṇa, ii. 19, 1. 2; probably Av.

vi. 30, 1. This list is according to

Roth's view, St. Petersburg Dictionary,

s.v. 3c.] 

[Footnote: 3) Rv. iii. 23, 4 (where the Dṛṣadvatī

appears); x. 64, 9: 75, 5 (where the

Śindhu also is mentioned).] 

[Footnote: 4) Probably the modern Chautang,

which flows to the east of Thanesar.

Cf. Oldham, Journal of the Royal Asiatic

Society, 25, 58; Imperial Gasetteer of

India, 26, Plate 32.] 

[Footnote: 5) Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra, xii. 3, 20;

xxiv. 6, 22; Lāṭyāyana Śrauta Sūtra,

x. 15, 1; 18, 13; 19, 4; Āśvalāyana

Śrauta Sūtra, xii. 6, 2. 3; Śāṅkhāyana

Śrauta Sūtra, xiii. 29.] 

[Footnote: 6) i. 89, 3; 164, 19; ii. 41, 16 et seq.;

30, 8; 32, 8; iii. 54, 13; v. 42, 12;

43, 11; 46, 2; vi. 49, 7; 50, 12; 52, 6;

vii. 9, 5; 36, 6; 39, 5; 40, 3; viii. 21, 17;

54, 4; x. 17, 7; 30, 12; 131, 5; 184, 2.] 

[Footnote: 7) Av. iv. 4. 6; v. 23, 1; vi. 3, 2;

89, 3; vii. 68, 1; xiv. 2, 15. 20; xvi. 4, 4;

xix. 32, 9; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, 1, 8,

13, 3; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xix. 93;

xxxiv. 11; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6,

2, 4; xi. 4, 3, 3; xii. 7, 1, 12; 2, 5;

Bṛnadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 3, 8.

These passages should all be classed

in n. 2.] 

[Footnote: 8) Rv. ii. 41, 16.] 

[Footnote: 9) Rv. vi. 61, 2. 8; vii. 96, 2.] 

[Footnote: 10) Rv. viii. 21, 18.] 

[Footnote: 11) Rv. vi. 61, 12.] 

[Footnote: 12) Altindisches Leben, 5-10.] 

[Footnote: 13) E.g., Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda,

1, 60; 2, 90, etc.; Ludwig, Translation

of the Rigveda, 3, 201, 202.] 

[Footnote: 14) Indische Alterthumshunde, 1^2, 118.] 

[Footnote: 15) Sacred Books of the East, 32, 60.] 

[Footnote: 16) In the enumeration of rivers (evi-

dently from east to west) in Rv. x. 75, 5,

Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Śutudrī,

the Sarasvatī comes between the Jumna

and the Sutlej, the position of the

modern Sarsūti (Saraswatī), which,

flowing to the west of Thanesar, is

joined in Patiala territory by a more

westerly stream, the Ghaggar, and,

passing Sirsa, is lost in the desert at

Bhatnair; but a dry river bed (Hakra

or Ghaggar) can be traced from that

point to the Indus. See Imperial Gasetteer

of India, 26, Plate 32. Cf. also Oldham,

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 25,

49-76.] 

[Footnote: 17) Rv. ii. 41, 16 (devitame).] 

[Footnote: 18) See Pārāvata, and cf. Bṛsaya.] 

[Footnote: 19) Rv. vii. 95, 96. Ludwig, op. cit.,

3, 175, admits that the Indus cannot be

meant here. See Hillebrandt. Vedische

Mythologie, 1, 115.] 

[Footnote: 20) Rv. viii. 24, 27. The connexion

of Sarasvatī and the seven rivers is

rather vague. In Rv. viii. 54, 4, Saras-

vatī and the seven rivers are separately

invoked, and in vi. 61, 10, 12, she is

referred to as ‘seven-sistered’ (sapta-

svasā). In vii. 36, 6, she is called the

‘seventh,’ which makes the Sarasvatī

one of the rivers. If the former passages

are to be treated as precise, then sapta-

svasā may be considered to show that

the Sarasvatī was outside the river

system (which would then be Indus,

Kubhā, and the five rivers of the

Panjab; see Sapta Sindhavaḥ); but

the expression may be loosely meant

for one of seven sisters.] 

[Footnote: 21) xxxiv. 11.] 

[Footnote: 22) Vedische Mythologie, 1, 99 et seq.;

3, 372-378.] 

[Footnote: 23) He sees this sense in the Rigveda

everywhere, except in the passages

indicated in notes 24 and 25.] 

[Footnote: 24) vii. 95, 6; x. 17, 7; Av. vii. 68, 2;

xiv. 2, 20; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa,

xxxv. 10, 11.] 

[Footnote: 25) Rv. vi. 49, 7; 61; possibly Vāja-

saneyi Saṃhitā, xxxiv. 11.] 

[Footnote: 26) See Divodāsa.] 

[Footnote: 27) Bezzenberger's Beiträge, 10, 261,

n. 2.] 

[Footnote: 28) Iran und Turan, 127.

Cf. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 5, 337 et seq.,

Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, 141,

142; Vedic Mythology, pp. 86-88; von

Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur,

84, 164.] 
[ID=3502]

N. of the goddess of eloquence and learning (cf. above; she is opposed to Śrī or Lakṣmī [cf. Vikramorvaśī (Title) 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. [ID=237583]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 1 N. of the goddess of speech and learning, and represented as the wife of Brahman.                  [ID=29830]

[Printed book page 766-04]
सरस्वती (sarasvatī) f. 1. The wife of Brahman (m.) represented as the goddess of speech and eloquence; 2. speech, voice, eloquence, literary composition,  R. xv.46; 3. a cow; 4. an excellent woman; 5. an epithet of Durgā; 6. the name of a river; 7. a river in general; 8. the Soma plant; 9. a female divinity peculiar to the Buddhists; 10. the jyotishmatī plant. [ID=40087]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 622-2]
Sarasvatī², the goddess of Speech. § 1 (Anukram.): I, 1
Page623-a+ 63
[ID=9540]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 3-553]
Sarasvatī (I) — (Vāk Devī); Viśvarūpā, a mind-born daughter of Brahmā who began to love her. Being criticised by his sons for it, he gave up his body in shame. Presented Pṛthu with a wreath, and was offered a wreath of pearls by Viśvakarman. Gave away a string of beads to the Lord. Gave Vīṇa to Kumāra; a Mother goddess.² The Goddess of Learning;³ enshrined in the faces of Brahmā,⁴ Gāyatrā⁵ in the 23rd Kalpa; constitutes 32 akṣaras; is prakṛti and Gaulī,⁶ source of all worlds;⁷ of four feet.⁸ Presented to Skanda a great vīra.⁹
[Footnote: 1) Bhā. I. 24; III. 12, 28 and 33; IV. 15. 16. VIII. 8. 16; Br. II.

26. 45, M. 3. 32. 171. 33; 260. 44.] 

[Footnote: 2) Br. III. 10. 47; 35. 44. IV. 7. 72;

19. 70, 73; 20. 101; 36. 19; 40. 8;] 

[Footnote: 3) M. 1. 2;] 

[Footnote: 4) Ib. 13. 52;] 

[Footnote: 5) Ib. 246.

57;] 

[Footnote: 6) Vā. 23. 38;] 

[Footnote: 7) Ib. 23. 54-5;] 

[Footnote: 8) Ib. 23. 88;] 

[Footnote: 9) Ib. 72. 45.] 
[ID=15525]

a buffalo, W. [ID=237553.50]

a cow, Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā (Title) viii, 43  [ID=237586]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 5 A cow.                  [ID=29830]

N. of various plants (Cardiospermum Halicacabum, Egle Marmelos, Ruta Graveolens &c.), L. [ID=237588]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 9 The Soma plant.                  [ID=29830]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 10 The plant called ज्योतिष्मती (jyotiṣmatī).                  [ID=29830]

speech or the power of speech, eloquence, learning wisdom, MBh.; Kāv. &c. [ID=237584]

a celestial or oracular voice, Kālid.; Kathās.; Rājat. [ID=237585]

सरस्वती (sarasvatī) [Printed book page 1108-a] 2 Speech, voice, words; Kumārasambhava (Bombay) 4. 39 , 43 ; Raghuvaṃśa (Bombay) 15. 46.                   [ID=29830]

(H3B) [Printed book page 1182,2]
सरस् (saras)—वती (—vatī) a (अती (atī)), f., see s.v. [ID=237553.55]

(H1) [Printed book page 1183,3]
सरस्वती (sarasvatī) c &c. See p. 1182, col. 2. [ID=237820]

सरस् (saras)—वत् (—vat) m. N. of a divinity belonging to the upper region (considered as offspring of the water and plants, as guardian of the waters and bestower of fertility), RV.; AV.; TS.; PañcavBr. [ID=237553.25]

of a male deity corresponding to Sarasvatī, TS.; ŚBr. [ID=237553.30]