Saraswati Puja Bengali this festival is celebrated in Nepal, India and Bangladesh to invoke wisdom and consciousness in human beings. The day is also called Basant Panchami which falls in Falgun Phalgun in Hindi month of Bangla calendar; that is February of the Gregorian calendar. In West Bengal saraswati puja is celebrated in Hindu households and also in schools and colleges. Bengali men are usually dressed in traditional paijama and Punjabi. With Her grace, the mute, it is believed, have been able to speak and people have been blessed with the ability to write or compose poems. Instrumentalists have puja performed for their instruments here. Apart from art and culture, Goddess Saraswati also showers her blessings for the education of children.
She is seated on a white lotus in Padmasana, adorned by a pure white silk sari, has a book in her lower left hand, her lower right hand showing the chinmudra, Aksharamala in Her right upper hand, and Amrithakalasam in Her left upper hand. Both eyes are full of compassion. The vehicle assigned to each of the three goddesses also symbolically represent their special powers. Goddess Saraswathi is the consort of Lord Brahma Lord of Creation and is the Goddess of wisdom and learning. Saraswati is the one who gives the essence Sara of our own self swa. She is considered as the personification of all knowledge - arts, sciences, crafts and other skills. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on the veena.
Like Brahma, she is not worshipped much in temples. However, every year Saraswathi Pooja Navarathiri is celebrated by people all over India, be it students, workers, craftsmen, businessmen offering their prayers for a successful and fruitful year. However, Saraswathi does have a temple in Koothanur in Tanjavur district (Tamil Nadu).There is an important Saraswati Temple in Basar at a distance of 40 km from Nizamabad in Adilabad District, Andhra Pradesh on the banks of Godavari River. There is also a small but very old temple in Hasanpur and and a relatively new one in Bakhri Bazar, Bihar. |
