Vasant Panchami 1891: Jaipur, Rajasthan

Vasant Panchami (the 5th day of the bright fortnight of Magha) announces the arrival of spring and is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge, music, arts, and eloquence. The word vasant means spring, and panchami means the fifth lunar day. On this day, the fields of northern India turn golden with blooming mustard flowers, and the colour yellow pervades everything: clothing, food, flowers, and even the powder used in worship. Yellow is the colour of Saraswati's grace, of ripe knowledge, of the spring sun and the fragrant mustard in bloom.

According to the Puranas, Brahma created the universe but found it silent and colourless. He sprinkled water from his kamandalu (water pot), and from that act Saraswati emerged: seated on a white lotus, holding a veena in two of her four hands, a book of scriptures in another, and a mala (rosary) in the fourth. She spoke, and the universe gained sound. She played, and the world gained melody. This is why she is invoked at every beginning of learning: she is literally the sound that gave shape to creation.

Vasant Panchami is the most auspicious day of the year for the Aksharabhyasam ceremony, in which young children (typically aged two to five) are formally initiated into learning for the first time. The child's hand is guided by a parent or guru to write the first letters in a tray of rice grains or sand, accompanied by the chanting of Saraswati's name. Students across India and Bangladesh leave their notebooks, instruments, and art supplies at Saraswati's feet overnight for the goddess to bless. In Bengal and Odisha, elaborately decorated pandals (marquees) house clay images of Saraswati for a full day of puja before visarjan (immersion) the following morning.