சரஸ்வதி அந்தாதி

Introduction

This book sings of Goddess Saraswathi, praised by many names: Kalaimagal, lady of the arts; Naamagal, lady of speech; Vani; Bharati; the lady of the white lotus. Kambar, who sang the Iramavataram, offers it as a thanksgiving to the Goddess who is the source of his gift. One prayer sounds through the whole book: 'Dwell in my heart and bless me; there is no penance for me but you.'

An andhadhi is a garland of verses in which the last word of each verse becomes the first word of the next. The first verse ends with 'vananguthume', 'we bow', and the second begins with 'vanangum'. In this way all thirty verses are strung into a single garland. Each verse has four lines in the kattalai kalitturai metre.

The Goddess's white form seated on the white lotus, the palm-leaf book and the bead-string in her hands, the speech that dwells on the tongue of four-faced Brahma, the meaning of the four Vedas and the sixty-four arts all appear in these verses. The first invocation verse is still recited at Saraswathi Puja, at Vidyarambham on Vijayadasami when little children write their first letters, and at the morning prayer of many schools. The text here follows the Project Madurai etext.