Saraswati: Connection to Other Religions

Aum Namah Shivaya......

Sarasvati is well known in a variety of other religions outside of Hinduism. She appears in Jainism and Buddhism, and has made her way from India to Japan as well as to other places around the world.

In Jainism, Saravsvati has been given many titles, a few of these include: The Dispeller of Darkness & Ignorance, The Remover of Infatuations, The Destroyer of Miseries and The Bestower of Knowledge. As in Hinduism, she also stands as a symbol of purity.

In the transition from early (Theravada) Buddhism to Mahayana Buddhism, may elements of Hinduism were transplanted into Buddhism. In early Buddhist mandalas, various divinities were depicted of Mahayana Buddhism. In those early Buddhist mandalas, Sarasvati is located in the south-west of the innermost circle, between Brahma and Vishnu, symbolizing her close connection with these two deities. In Buddhism, Sarasvati is the Bestower of Knowledge, Intelligence & Memory; and she confers wisdom and learning upon her worshippers. She possesses many forms within Buddhism, including Vajra-Sarasvati, Vajrana-Sarasvati, Vajra-Sarada and Mahasarasvati. During a period of Tantric dominance within Buddhism, many of the Mahayana Buddhist texts were transmitted through the Himalayan passes to Nepal, Tibet, Java, China and eventually Japan.

In Tibet, she is known as Vajra-Sarasvati and is often depicted as wielding a Thunderbolt (vajra). In Japan, the goddess Benten is seen as a manifestation of Sarasvati. Her full name in Japanese is Dai-Ben-Zai-Ten or The Great Divinity of Reasoning Faculty. She is believed to confer power, happiness, riches, long life, fame and reasoning powers. In later times she came to be regarded as one of the seven deities of good fortune. A myth in Japan speaks of a hideous pond dwelling serpent that terrorized the villages and devoured the children for miles around. Benten could not bear to witness such destruction. Therefore she stirred up an earthquake and hovered above the serpent’s lair in the dust clouds. Descending, she called it forth. At first Benten was filled with loathing. But the serpent king wooed her with soft and tender words until her heart was melted, and--making him promise to mend his savage ways--she married him. It is interesting to note that Ben-Ten, as goddess of speech was won by words.