Shri Saraswati Chalisa

Shri Saraswati Chalisa is a devotional hymn to Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, learning, music, the arts and speech, and it is signed by the poet Ramsagar. The opening dohas bow to the dust of the parents'' feet and to Mother Saraswati, asking for intelligence and strength, and then ask her to destroy the sins of the wicked.

The hymn first praises her form. It calls her the storehouse of all intelligence and strength, all-knowing, immortal and imperishable, four-armed, with a veena in her hand, riding a fine swan, and famous throughout the world. It says that when sin and wrong thinking grow in the world and the light of dharma grows dim, the Mother takes birth and rescues the earth from sin.

Its first great theme is poets and scholars. The Chalisa says that Valmiki, who by tradition had been a robber and killer, became the first poet (Adi Kavi) and composed the Ramayana through her grace (see the Ram Chalisa), and that Kalidas, Tulsi, Sur and many other learned men became famous by her mercy alone. The verses then plead that she has no support but her own kindness, and ask her to look kindly on a poor servant and save his honour even if the child makes many mistakes.

Its second theme is her power over demons. It says that Madhu and Kaitabh, two very strong demons, fought Vishnu in hand-to-hand combat for five thousand years without turning back, until the Mother helped and their minds turned against them. The Devi Mahatmya tells this too. It then recalls Chand and Mund, destroyed in a moment, Raktabeej, the powerful sinner whose terror made gods and sages tremble and whose head she cut like a banana trunk, and the famous Shumbh and Nishumbh, who were bound in an instant. Rakt Dantika and Shatakshi, names that destroy demons, are named, as is Durga, a name the whole world took for the difficult (durgam) task she did on earth (see the Durga Chalisa).

A well-known verse adds that she turned the mind of Bharat''s mother, which led to Ram''s forest exile and so to the killing of Ravana, bringing joy to gods, humans and sages. This is a tradition and is not told in this way in every version of the Ramayana. Other verses say that her name saves one from a furious king, a lonely forest of wild animals, a storm at sea, ghost trouble, poverty and crisis. They say that the childless who worship her and read the Chalisa will have a good son, that incense and offerings remove trouble, and that a person in bondage who recites it a hundred times will be freed. These are matters of faith, and they are best read as encouragement alongside effort.

The closing doha compares her radiance to the sun and the poet''s own mind to darkness, asking to be saved from falling into the well of worldly life and to be given strength, intelligence and learning. Students, teachers, artists and speakers read it for focus and fine speech. See also the Gayatri Chalisa and the Brahma Chalisa, where Saraswati is remembered as the consort of Brahma.