While a handful of works on the goddess Sarasvatī do exist, most notably Mohammad Israil Khan's Sarasvatī in Sanskrit Literature (1978), the bibliography of modern scholarship on Sarasvatī presents a piecemeal and unsatisfactory assessment of Sarasvatī's place in Indic art and literature. To this relatively barren scholarly landscape, Catherine Ludvik's study represents a significant and valuable contribution.
The most impressive, and most valuable, aspect of the book lies in the wide range of sources it considers. The first half of the book surveys representations of Sarasvatī in Sanskrit literature from the Hindu traditions, covering Vedic, epic, and puranic representations of Sarasvatī. The second half of the volume turns its attention to materials even less documented in scholarly discourse, addressing the goddess's early iconography and Buddhist representations of Sarasvatī in the Sutra of Golden Light. Full Sanskrit verses supporting virtually every quality ever ascribed to the goddess are provided in the...
