Saraswata
SARASWATA.
[Source:
Dowson's Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology]
1. In
the Mahabharata the Rishi Saraswata is represented as being the son of
the personified river Saraswati. In a time of great drought he was fed
with fish by his mother, and so was enabled to keep up his knowledge
of the Vedas, while other Brahmans were reduced to such straits for the
means of subsistence that study was neglected and the Vedas were lost.
When the drought was over, the Brahmans flocked to him for instruction,
and 60,000 acquired a knowledge of the Vedas from him. "This legend," says
Wilson, "appears to indicate
the revival, or, more probably, the introduction of the Hindu ritual by the
race of Brahmans, or the people called Saraswata," who dwelt near the Saraswati
river. Saraswata Brahmans still dwell in the Panjab, and are met with in many
other parts.
2. The country about the Saraswati river.
3. A great national division
of the Brahman caste.
|
Modern
Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
The textual material made available at this website is licensed
under a Creative
Commons License.
You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for
commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work,
you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical
to this one.
No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website;
if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe
your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster.
Page last updated:
October 16, 2007 12:22 PM
|
|