vande shAradAm.h

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> The aShTottaram I have on shrI sarasvatI calls HER shivAnujA. Can
> some on throw more light on this aspect, highlighting HER as the
> sister of shiva (whose guru aspect was well explained by Rama's
> post).

There are lots of purANic sources for this. Especially, see Devi
Bhagavatam, where Candika, the first Mother Goddess splits into three,
called Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasarasvati. Each of these Goddesses in
turn give birth to a male child and a female child. Kali is the sister of
Vishnu, Lakshmi is the sister of Brahma and Sarasvati is the sister of
Siva.

There is also a Vedic mythological source for making Sarasvati the sister
of Siva. In this story, Rudra springs up from tears, and becomes angry
that Brahma, the Creator, feels lust for Sarasvati, whom Brahma himself
has created. In this sense, Rudra and Sarasvati are both children of
Brahma, hence siblings. The story goes on to say that Rudra plucks out one
of the heads of Brahma, out of his anger at the incestuous lust felt by
the Creator.

Needless to say, myth has multiple layers of meaning.

Vidyasankar