"Sarasvati is a goddess of some, though not of very great, importance in the Vedas. . . . She is celebrated

both as a river and a goddess. She was primarily a river deity, as her name, 'the watery,' clearly denotes; and in this capacity she is celebrated in a few separate passages. Allusion is made in the hymns, as well as in the Brahmanas, to sacrifices being performed on the banks of this river, and of the adjoining Drishadvati; and the Sarasvati in particular seems to have been associated with the reputation for sanctity which . . . was ascribed to the whole region called Brahmavartta, lying between these two small streams, and situated immediately to the westward of the Jumna. The Sarasvati thus appears to have been to the early Indians what the Ganges (which is only twice named in the Rig-Veda) is to their descendants. . . . When once the river had acquired a divine character, it was quite natural that she should be regarded as the patroness of ceremonies which were celebrated on the margin of her holy waters, and that her direction and blessing should be invoked as essential to their proper performance and success. The connection into which she was thus brought with sacred rites may have led to the further step of imagining her to have an influence on the composition of the hymns which formed so important a part of the proceedings, and of identifying her with Vach, the goddess of speech. At least I have no other explanation to offer to this double character and identification. [**]

"Sarasvati is frequently invited to the sacrifices along with several other goddesses, who, however, were never, like her, river nymphs, but personifications of some department of religious worship, or sacred science. She is frequently invoked along with other deities.

"In many passages where she is celebrated, her original character is, as I have intimated, distinctly

preserved. Thus in two places she is mentioned along with rivers, or fertilizing waters: 'Ye opulent waters, command riches; ye possess excellent power and immortality; ye are mistresses of wealth and progeny; may Sarasvati bestow this vitality on her worshipper.' And she is mentioned with the other well-known streams which are there named, the Sindhu, the Ganges, &c. In another place she is said to 'surpass all other rivers, and to flow pure from the mountains to the sea.' In other verses she is called upon to 'descend from the sky, from the great mountain, to the sacrifice;' and is supplicated to combine with the spouses of the other gods to afford secure protection to the worshippers. . . . It is difficult to say whether in any of the passages in which Sarasvati is invoked, even in those where she appears as the patroness of holy rites, her character as a river goddess is entirely left out of sight. . . .