Sarasvati's Gift : From the author of Karna's Wife

SYNOPSIS
Sarasvati’s Gift is a captivating exploration of the multifaceted character of Goddess Sarasavati. This compelling read sheds light on her often overlooked attributes, presenting her as a powerful figure who defies societal norms. Known as the embodiment of art, music, and knowledge, Sarasvati’s role as the river goddess also stands highlighted.

The author has presented Sarasvati as an inspiration for modern feminists, highlighting her independent nature. The Goddess is someone who is not afraid to challenge conformity, power dynamics, and chauvinism. Breaking away from conventional notions, Sarasvati defies the traditional ideals of marriage and motherhood. Instead, her relationship with Brahma is portrayed as a tumultuous yet mutually beneficial connection, symbolizing the dynamic interplay between creation, creativity, and the creator.

“Sarasvati’s Gift by Kavita Kane is a mythological retelling which not only attempts at illuminating the elusive goddess of knowledge, arts and wisdom: Saraswati, through a relatable lens, with puranic references of her story; it also brings the world of the divinities to a human surface.

There’s love, there’s rage, there’s desire and there’s voicing against patriarchal notions and environmental destruction by humankind.

Kavita’s Sarasvati is a reader, an intellectual woman, a musician and has a predilection for all which flows from the mind over the heart. She is fiercely independent and chooses for herself, she’s a feminist who enlightens all around her, and doesn’t stay where she’s not valued.

Even though there’s no bibliography in the book, I love how a wholesome vision of Sarasvati is presented with intertextual inclusions from Vedic shlokas, Puranas, festivals of the goddess.

However, at times the reader forgets that they are reading a divine tale, it gets so humanised with scenes of reception parties, gossips in Brahmaloka, bickering over the trousseau for a wedding; so much that it feels like watching a daytime drama!

Also, as beautiful and somatic the emotional flow is between Brahma and Sarasvati, reading their arguments and actions post-marriage felt like a day-to-day scene between a wedded couple.

I absolutely love that the book comes forth as a tool for disseminating awareness to readers on various societal issues of gender performance, choice on motherhood, nature’s usage and choosing a different vision over a socially acceptable one.

It has a lot of dialogues, a lot more than descriptive narration and the scenes get humanised at times, so much so that I kept forgetting that I was reading about Devi Saraswati.

Sarasvati, the feminine force worshipped as the goddess of learning, is a household name, yet we barely know much about the goddess. She is known as a lost river and seen as a singular goddess, never as part of a couple, such as Shiva-Parvati or Lakshmi-Narayan. In Sarasvati's Gift, Kavita Kane brings to light Sarasvati's story-the goddess of art, music and knowledge-told in the voices of nameless celestials, powerful gods and lesser mortals. The book explores her relationship with her Creator, Brahma, and their unusual marriage-a union of fiercely independent minds and the most non-conforming, unconventional of the Triumvirate couples. As these peripheral figures and silent catalysts take centre stage, we get a glimpse of an extraordinary woman and her remarkable story, obscured and buried under myths and legends.

English