Saraswati

by Sanjana Kapur

As Brahma sinks into peaceful bliss, his radiance gives birth to a sublime form. Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, emerges from Brahma's mind and enlightens the mighty creator.When the all-consuming fire, Vadavagni, is raging through the world the gods go to Saraswati for help. Saraswati agrees to carry the fire and save everyone from perishing. Shiva aids her in this quest, and she begins her epic course as a river.Later, Saraswati finds herself the victim of a terrible curse when she gets drawn into the rivalry between the sages Vishwamitra and Vasishtha.Amar Chitra Katha follows the story of Saraswati, from her birth to her journey into the ocean.

Genres: Mythology, Comics, Graphic Novels, Childrens, History, Drama, Indian Literature

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Sanjana Kapur is an author and editor with over 15 years of experience in children’s publishing. As the Associate Editor at Amar Chitra Katha, she has written and edited over twenty comic books across genres. Besides this, she has written several books for children, including the award-winning 'Who Stole Bhaiya’s Smile?'. Sanjana has also hosted quiz shows and children’s events in schools across India. When she is not writing, Sanjana is attempting to make sense of the world for herself and the people around her.

Reviews

[Ritu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting the year right.

[Namratha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today is Vasant (Basant) Panchami, which heralds the onset of Spring. It is a day dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, who is our divine Lady of wisdom, knowledge, language, music and creative arts. Since today celebrates the birth of our erudite Goddess, it felt apt to dip into this quick Amar Chitra Katha retelling of her legends.

Be it her origin story or how she saved the world from the fury of Vadavagni (the all-destroying fire) with Lord Shiva or how she became a holy river that also goes by the name Nanda or how she got caught in the bitter battle between two mighty sages…all are covered here in succinct ACK style.

[Girija Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Good book and quite informative. Loved reading this to my daughter who's 6 years old. Would recommend parents to read it to kids so that they learn history.

[Srikanth Sreedharan · Rating 5 out of 5]

ACK into Graphic Novels...

ACK moving to Graphic Novels

Good artwork...story well told...More details on Pushkar would have been welcome. Worth the read. Enjoyed.

[Pranav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has covered all the major achievements of the goddess Saraswati whom we worship today. They could have added the time period after which Saraswati was freed from her curse because of sage Vishwamitra. Everything was alright but there is also a legend which states that Shiva was angry with the dishonest reply of Brahma, and he called Virabhadra to cut Brahma's fourth head and he cursed him that he will not be worshipped in any form on this earth. Overall, this book was good and I totally recommend it

[prakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok Story telling but good artwork

The new artwork of ACK is really good.

But what is with the biceps and six packs of even rishis, munis, Lord Shiva, the devas etc, this six packs or chiseled body is more of modern western concept and is not found in our scriptures. The old artwork of Founder Editor of ACK was more closer to the scriptures. Even the very slim trim zero figure and flat tummy of devis and ladies does not find a place in the scriptures they are fuller though not fat/chubby.

Still thank you for bringing out our scriptures to life in such wonderful way.

[Aditi Ramaswamy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the writing is polished and the art is pretty, this comic is obsessed with making every “good” character white-skinned, as well as with perpetrating anti-feminist, casteist, Hindutva views of many myths. I used to love these when I was younger, but ACK really needs to make some drastic changes in order to be more inclusive.

[Avinash K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad...

Weird artwork and confused story telling. Maya's story has been mixed with Saraswati. The drawings are mix of stylised and caricatures. Please give this a miss...

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know Goddess Saraswati as the goddess of knowledge and Wisdom but I was unaware of the other stories- the story of vadavagni, the strory of how Saraswati river came to be amongst others mentioned on this book.
The illustrations are beautiful and the stories are crisp in true Amar chitra Katha style.
The book ends with a description of Goddess Saraswati that describes how her appearance hints at the Goddess's qualities- I never looked at it that way.
I do wonder if Hindu mythology has been simplified over the ages into tales that our simpleton minds can make better sense of ?

[Gurudatt Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful Brief

A compilation of stories from origin to different stories of Goddess Saraswati brings the nostalgia of childhood back..A read for anyone trying to understand the Gods/Goddess in Hindu Mythology.

[Prashant Chaudhari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narration and Images are both incredible

Liked Pictures and presentation.
Stories were told with grandeur they deserve.
Ending was abrupt and did not give any account of her disappearance.
A good read nonetheless along with a good sight

[Siddhartha Gogoi]

Saraswati Maa

A must read. Narration is lucid seamlessly depicting the many twists in the mythology about Saraswati Maa. The art is phenomenal, the lettering beautiful and perfect layout and panel placement. All in all, it is a great read, entertaining, educating and enlightening.

[Sheetal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

It was nice reading it, I didn't knew ome story narrated in the book. Happy to read about Saraswati Maiya. Short and pointed stories. Graphics enhanced the experience for a child to explain the story in fine manner.

[Nidhi Chopra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good one.

[Anjalica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the stories

[Savita Ramsumair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative

A very informative book on Devi Saraswati. Once again the author has made UT easy for kids to understand the story.

[Vaishnavi Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was desparetly trying to read it and it was rear to find , finally read it . Its a beautiful book

[Ravi Kumar Dandapani]

Nice

[Krishnan Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I did know some aspects of the story of Saraswati, I didn't know all of it. I kind of wonder which other stories of Saraswati are present in mythology.

[Rajesh Tripathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book . Thank you Amar Chitra Katha for writing. This book . Keep publishing these kind of books

[Sumon Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always wanted to know about the origin and the river. I've got enough details now.

If you're reading my review then you should read that book too.

[Subbu Subhash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Vidya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a good book, would recommend for children

[Pritam Kayal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise representation

The stories on and about Goddess Saraswati and her interaction of both the heavenly and mortal world has been presented in this book very concisely.

[Pankaj Pandey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and quick read. Informative about Sarasvati ji's birth, form and blessings

[Kishore · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's nice

It's nice to read and inspires us to be peaceful and kind as Godess Saraswati. I truly enjoyed reading this book.

[Surya · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is uncomfortably patriarchal or maybe it is just written that way

[Pallavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nicely written but even more beautiful is the illustrations . They are really so breathtaking

[nibha ⋆˚꩜｡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't enjoy this one as much as i thought i would 💔 that one god doing the 👍🏼 on page 21 though 😭