Saraswati, goddess of learning

This print, with its finely graded colors and naturalism, reflects the influence of Victorian-era art movements on Indian artist Ravi Varma. He first depicted the goddess Saraswati in an oil painting in 1881, three years before founding his lithographic press. Here, the goddess sits on a rock overlooking a lotus pond. Her attributes—the vina (a symbol of music and the arts), palm-sized manuscript (a symbol of learning), and rosary (a symbol of religious rites)—denote her role as a goddess of knowledge. Saraswati is conventionally accompanied by a swan, but a peacock stands beside her here, enchanted by the divine music she creates. Originally associated with an ancient lost river that bore her name, Saraswati increasingly came to be celebrated as the goddess of all waters and their life-giving and purifying powers.