Ram Dayal Rakesh

Followers of Hinduism have lots of fairs and festivals around the year. The worshipping of Goddess Saraswati is one of their main festivals. Generally, this festival is celebrated every year because it heralds the advent of the spring season. This puja is purely a religious festival. It is one of the very important puja for all teachers and students.
Basant means spring season and Panchami is the fifth day of the fortnight of waning moon (Shukla Paksha) in the month of January-February of the Gregorian Calendar and the month of Magh, according to Bikram Sambat.

Heralding Spring Season
Every year, Basant Panchami heralds the beginning of the spring season. Cool and balmy breeze replaces the cold and cruel winter and there is an atmosphere of entertainment and enjoyment in the air. All the flowers of this sweet and soothing spring season are fully blossomed and scented. The very aroma of the atmosphere is imbibed in the atmosphere.
There is a special feature of Panchami (the fifth day of the month) in the culture of Mithila i. e. the fifth dark day of the month of Shrawan is celebrated as Mauna Panchami. On the auspicious occasion of it, people worship the Bishara goddess with special respect and reverence.
They also celebrate the famous festival of Madhushrawani, which is considered as the honeymoon of the newly married bride and groom. Moreover, they also pay due respect to the serpent god which is called Nagpanchami. The fifth day of Mangsir is celebrated as Vivah Panchami. On this special occasion, the marriage ceremony of Lord Ramchandra and goddess Sita is celebrated with great fan and fare in Janakpur, the capital of Province No.2.On the fifth day of Magh month is called Basant Panchami when the Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in each educational institution in Mithila with interest and enthusiasm.
 Especially, all teachers and students pay offerings to Sarswati, the Goddess of wisdom. She is not only the Goddess of wisdom but also the Goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and modern technology.
Goddess Saraswati is worshipped on Basant Panchami day that is also called as Shri Panchami and Saraswati Panchami. People worship Goddess Saraswati to get enlightened with Knowledge and get rid of ignorance forever.
It is also celebrated for attaining the blessing of Mother Saraswati. This special worship is performed by the expert priest and Pandit who chant shlokas of Sanskrit and also recite Saraswati Puran. She is considered the mother of all the Vedas. She is also known as Bharati( persuasiveness). Shatru Pad( survival), Veda Mats( mother of the Vedas).Brahmi, Sharada, Vageshwari and Putkari.She is well known as the Goddess of speech. She is also revered and respected as the Goddess of aesthetics and alphabet because children of Mithila first of all learn the alphabet on this auspicious occasion.
They either buy or make painted and well decorated earthen idols of the Goddess and worship her with respect and reverence. This is not the tradition in Nepal only but the whole of South Asia. After worshipping they invite their guardians, friends, colleagues, share and distribute sweets and pray to the Goddess collectively or individually to bless them with wisdom and learning. I would like to quote here;
"Basant Panchami, falling on the fifth day of the waning moon in Magh( March), is the birthday of goddess Saraswati. She is the daughter of the god Shiva and goddess Durga, sister of an elephant-headed god, Ganesh, and the consort of god Brahma. Saraswati is the Goddess of Learning. Basant Panchami also heralds the spring season in Nepal. Both occasions are celebrated simultaneously."
Somnath and Ashadhar: Nepal: Land of Gods Goddesses and Demons: P.82.

Festival of Scholars, Students
Goddess Saraswati is represented as a graceful woman in white apparel, a symbol of purity and peace and chastity. She is the only Goddess who signifies knowledge, learning, arts and culture. This puja is celebrated in a free and friendly atmosphere beyond the feelings of caste, creed and gender.
It is a scholars and students community festival, which gives a suitable opportunity to forget all the ill-nourished feelings of the whole year. This colourful festival is celebrated in spring when the Maithil people are mentally and physically prepared to make merry in mass by worshipping the Goddess and distributing sacred Prasad among themselves and also perform drama during the night.
They wear white new clothes because it is suitable for this occasion. The main person who performs this sacred pooja wears yellow clothes because yellow is the colour of the spring season.
First of all Saraswati goddess of wisdom appeared in the Rigveda. She is also the goddess of speech
I would like to quote here:
“Sarswati appears in the Rigveda, though as a minor goddess. In Vedic literature she is called Vak, the goddess of speech and eloquence and as Saraswati is also a sacred river. Gradually it is the first persona that revolved into the goddess of wisdom, learning, science, and music who wrote the Vedas and invented the Devanagari script that is used for Sanskrit. The Mahabharata calls her’ the mother of the Vedas.'
Subhadra Sen Gupta: Devi-devata: The Gods and Goddesses of India.P.187.
The Indian scholar Shovna Narayan is also of the same opinion:
"On the day, yellow coloured robes are traditionally worn, taking clues from the fields wearing a mustard flower's brilliant colour. This colour also signifies maturity and ripeness."
Shovana Narayan: Folk Dances of India P.41.
But another Indian scholar differs from this theory that she wears yellow clothes. He says,
“She is depicted as a slim, graceful, fair-skinned woman, dressed in white, seated on a lotus with her pet swan beside her.”
Subhadra Sen Gupta: Devi- devata: P. 188.
This is an agricultural festival also because after a break of one month farmers start to plough their barren fields on this day. Not only students and scholars are looking earnestly for this pious day but farmers too. The plough is worshipped with respect.
Kite flying, a popular play in Nepal is also associated with this particular day because the sky is crystal clear. The Younger generation enjoys this festival of playing kites freely and friendly. This auspicious day is observed with cultural bonanza replete with music and dance. This festival is purely and perfectly dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of learning and fine arts.

Different In Valley
It is observed somewhat differently in the Kathmandu valley. During the month of Magh, the Hindus of Nepal celebrate the Basant Panchami festival by listening to the holy recitation from the priests about the advent of the spring season.
On this auspicious occasion, a religious function is held at the courtyard of historic Hanuman Dhoka, which is called Basant Shrawan. This has a time tasting tradition of the Kathmandu valley. Schools, campuses, and universities all over the country are decorated tastefully with festoons on the auspicious occasion of Saraswati worshipping day.
 They offer their respectful prayers to the colourfully decorated images and statues of Goddess Saraswati. Students, as well as learned men and women, gather at as many educational institutions as possible in their native towns and villages. She is depicted as having four hands.
One holding a sacred scripture, another holding a lovely lotus and one pair holding the Veena, a stringed musical instrument. Her vehicle is a white swan. In Buddhism, she is said to be the consort of the respected Manjushri who drained the water out of the huge lake, which is now the Valley of Kathmandu. Her idol is enshrined in the walls of a small Buddhist Chaitya behind the Swayambhunath Hill(Dhar P.82.)
I would like to quote here:
"Nepalese flock to shrines of Sarswati and Manjushri this morning. Most popular is the shrine on the hill behind the stupa at Swayambhunath, where devotees, especially schoolchildren, line up from sunrise. Ceremonies associated with the instruments of art and learning-books, pens, brushes, etc. take place at home. Traditionally, children are given their first alphabet lesson this day."
Jim Goodman:Guide to Enjoying Nepalese Festivals.P.14
Her earthen idols are immersed in nearby rivers and ponds on the following day. The whole atmosphere is resounded with, "Beena pustak ranjit haste Bhagwati Bharati Devi namastute.'
There are many prayers in Sanskrit, which are recited on this auspicious occasion by both teachers and students that invoke the goddess’s many virtues and praiseworthy traits, all ending with a prayer to the goddess to remove the devotee’s ignorance and bless them with learning. You can thus call today the day of students, a day to pray for learning, for knowledge, and for higher intellectual pursuits.(Pramod Mishra TKP January 30, 2020).
According to Kinsley, she is sometimes associated with Brahmins, who are considered the special guardians of knowledge. Learning and culture. Nor is her presence sought in the fields, where fertility is crucial, or in the forests and mountains, where isolation from culture is desired in the quest for Moksha.
Her presence is sought in libraries and schools, by those who create and bear culture in the ongoing task of transforming the natural world into a refined and civilized habitation for human beings( 1987: 60, 63).

Legend
According to the legend, the creator Lord Brahma reviewed his creation, the Earth. Struck by the sadness prevalent in the atmosphere, Brahma wanted to change the haunting gloom. Taking some water from his Kamandal, he sprinkled it on all the trees and with a blinding flash, a Goddess appeared. She was playing the Veena with two hands. In her other two hands she held a book and a garland.
Lord Brahma named her as Goddess Saraswati meaning beholding of all rasas and kalas. At the instance of Lord Brahma, Goddess Sarswati filled the ‘creation’ with colours of music,dance,art and education.”
Shyam Dua: Famous great Indian Festivals: P. 11.
 
(Dayal writes on topics related to culture and religion)