Saraswati Pink sandstone Central India, Uttar or Madhya Pradesh

The eight-armed Goddess standing in an elegant posture holding a kalasha and pustaka in two of her remaining left hands. She is accompanied by four attendants, two of whom are seated at her feet, playing the flute and the vina, while two others stand at her sides holding a flywhisk and a garland.  

Saraswati, consort of Brahma, is revered as the Goddess of speech and learning in the Hindu pantheon. The full face with its pronounced chin and symmetrical arching eyebrows may be compared to that of a Celestial Dancer in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, see Pal, 1988, vol. 2, cat. 44, p. 114.