Goddess Saraswati Thangkas

As regards her status in the Vedas, Saraswati has priority over Mahadevi and Mahalakshmi – other two deities of the Puranic Trio manifesting Divine Female. Saraswati apart, the two deities of the Rig-Vedic Trio were Ila and Bharti, not Mahadevi and Mahalakshmi. Both, Ila and Bharti merged into the all-pervading personality of Saraswati during the later Vedic period – substantially in Brahmans. Though Vishwadevah is the primary object of the prayers that the Rig-Vedic richas – usually four-line verses offer, at least eighty of these richas laud and pray Saraswati. Saraswati, along with Illa and Bharti, is one of the twelve components of Vishwadevah. These collective richas apart, three of the suktas – conceptual hymns, are also devoted to Saraswati, which elevates her to the status of a sukta-bhak deity – a deity of higher order with a distinct and independent identity, one that is the subject of conceptual verses.