Gayatri

Illustration by Raja Ravi Verma. In illustrations, the goddess often sits on a lotus flower and appears with five heads and five pairs of hands, representing the incarnations of the goddess as Parvati, Saraswati etc. She is especially identified with Saraswatī.

For other uses, see Gayatri (disambiguation).

Gayatri (Sanskrit: गायत्री, gāyatrī) is the feminine form of gāyatra, a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn.

Gāyatrī is typically portrayed as seated on a red lotus, signifying wealth. She appears in either of these forms:

• Having five heads with the ten eyes looking in the eight directions plus the earth and sky, and ten arms holding all the weapons of Vishnu, symbolizing all her reincarnations.^{[citation needed]}
• Accompanied by a white swan, holding a book to portray knowledge in one hand and a cure in the other, as the goddess of Education.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Upanayanam
• Saraswati

Further reading

• Sacinandana Swami: The Gayatri Book., Vasati Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-937238-05-0
• "Gayatri Sahasranam", Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Devi Mandir (ISBN 1-877795-57-7)
• Sadguru Sant Keshavadas (1978,2006). Gayatri: The Highest Meditation. Dehli: Motilal Bandarsidass Publishers PVT. LTD.. pp. 148 pages. ISBN 81-208-0697-2.  [1]