Benzaiten (弁才天, 弁財天) is the Japanese name of goddess Sarasvati (Saraswati). There is also a mighty river in ancient India of this name (see Vedic Saraswati River). Some suggest a connection between the goddess and the river. Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light, which has a section devoted to her. She is also mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. This article is about Saraswati, the Hindu goddess. ... The Hindu Vedas mention a river named Sarasvati. ... The Golden Light Sutra (金光明經; Chinese: jin1 guang1 ming2 jing1; Japanese: Konkōmyō Kyō), an important Buddhist text, was originally written in India (Sanskrit romanization: Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra), and was translated several times into Chinese. ... The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Sanskrit: Saddharmapundarīka-sūtra; 妙法蓮華經 Cn: Miàofǎ Liánhuā Jīng; Jp: Myōhō Renge Kyō) is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sutras in East Asia and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism...

She is the goddess of everything that flows: words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. The characters used initially to write her name, read Biancaitian in Chinese and Benzaiten in Japanese (辯才天), reflected her role as the goddess of eloquence. Because the Sutra of Golden Light promised protection of the state, in Japan she became a protector-deity, at first of the state and then of people. Lastly she became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and the Sino-Japanese characters used to write her name changed to 弁財天 (no change in pronunciation), which reflects her role in bestowing monetary fortune. Sometimes she is called Benten, although this name refers to goddess Lakshmi. The seven fortune gods (七福神, shichi fukujin) in Japan refer to the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese folklore: ; . They are often the subject of netsuke carvings and other representations. ... Popular image of Lakshmi In Hinduism, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी) is the goddess of wealth and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ...

In the Rig-Veda (6.61.7) Sarasvati is credited with killing the three-headed Vritra, also known as Ahi ("snake"). This is probably the source of Sarasvati/Benzaiten's close association with snakes and dragons in Japan. She is enshrined on the Island of Enoshima in Sagami Bay, about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo, and numerous other locations throughout Japan; and she and a five-headed dragon are the central figures of the Enoshima Engi, a history of the shrines on Enoshima written by the Japanese Buddhist monk Kokei (皇慶) in 1047 A.D. The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... In Hinduism, Vritra (Sanskrit वृत्र Vṛtra, the enveloper) was a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. ... Ahi is a name used for various types of tuna, for example the bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, and bigeye tuna. ... Enoshima (江の島) is a small island, about 4 km in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River, which flows into Sagami Bay in Japan. ... Sagami Bay (相模湾, Sagami-wan), also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, with the Miura Peninsula to its east and the Izu Peninsula to its west. ... Long a symbol of Tokyo, the Nijubashi Bridge at the Imperial Palace. ... Chinese dragons The Chinese dragon (龍; pinyin: long2; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. ... The Enoshima Engi (江嶋縁起) is a history of the temples and shrines on Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay. ...

Sarasvati was syncretized by some Shintoism goddesses. Shintō (Japanese: 神道) is the native religion of Japan. ...

External links

• "Sarasvati": in Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (http://www.acmuller.net/ddb/index.html)
• A Study of the Enoshima Engi (http://www2.gol.com/users/bartraj/goddessindex-1.html)