Hindūs believe that almost every deity has a feminine side or a consort. शिव (Śiva) is accompanied by पार्वती (Pārvatī) and विष्णु (Viṣṇu) is accompanied by लक्ष्मी (Lakṣmī). The consort of ब्रह्मा (Brahmā) always intrigued me, who is she? मत्स्य पुराण (Matsya Purāṇa) says, while once Brahmā was into deep meditation, a very fair and beautiful lady draped in whites emerged out of his body. On emerging out, she did circum-ambulation around her father to offer her respect to him. She told her father that she wanted to beget a son. As a result she was blessed by Brahmā and she gave birth to a male child, the काव्यपुरुष (Kāvyapuruṣa). This Kāvyapuruṣa had all the knowledge of the world within him and various streams of knowledge were born out of him. From him emerged all वेद (Vedas). This story related to birth of सरस्वती (Saraswatī) could be nothing more than a very poetic reproduction of simple facts that Saraswatī was associated with the birth of knowledge.
RigVeda (10.17) worships her as
अपो अस्मान मातरः शुन्धयन्तु घर्तेन नो घर्तप्वः पुनन्तु |विश्वं हि रिप्रं परवहन्ति देविरुदिदाभ्यः शुचिरापूत एमि ||
may they who purify with butter, purify us with butter,
for these goddesses bear away defilement,
I come up out of them pure and cleansed.
Modern geologist and historians say that Saraswatī was a mighty perennial river (San. सरस् + वती saras + vati = One rich with water) in the North Western part of the sub continent. Maj Gen GD Bakshi in his book The Saraswati Civilization says that there are evidences of early human settlements along the course of River Saraswatī predating, 8000BCE. It is as these places, the various literature, sciences and arts could have risen and were continued till date.
People from subcontinent or Bhāratīya have a poetic tendency to personify every animate and inanimate being like, (भारत माता) Bhārata Mātā and associate stories with them. Since Saraswatī was a cradle to a civilisation where knowledge was born, she became the goddess of Knowledge.
