Saraswati

Saraswati is invoked at the beginning of study, before an examination or a performance, and at Vasant Panchami. Her practice is straightforward: sit, learn, practise, and speak what you actually know.

Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, speech and music, and the river that bears her name. She is the consort of Brahma and the mother of the Vedas, and her white swan separates truth from falsehood the way milk is separated from water.

The channel of speech, named for the river and the goddess of speech. In the fourteen-name list it is the nadi that reaches the tongue; the handbooks pair it with the mouth and with the power of words.