Illustration/ Devdutt Pattanaik

Most Hindus have reduced Saraswati to vocational training — something you learn in school to get a job. At best, it is extended to the performing arts. Saraswati is associated with books and pens and libraries, the realm of the educated. She belongs to the priests and artists, just as Lakshmi or wealth belongs to baniyas (traders) and Durga or power belongs to kshatriyas (landowners). Yet, Saraswati has more to do with identity (atma-gyan). The quest for identity — who are we — is what distinguishes humans from animals.