Hindu Goddess of Wisdom and Art on 8 Nesting Boxes, "Hail Saraswati"

Tjandra Jaya Kusuma honors Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, wisdom and art with this set of eight nesting boxes. Carved of Indian kapok wood, each box is painted by hand with an exceptional care for detail. Saraswati is portrayed either playing the veena as a symbol of the creative process in art and science, or holding a lotus, which stands for light, knowledge and truth. In some of the boxes she is portrayed with two arms, and on others with four-- according to Hindu lore, her four arms symbolically represent her husband Brahma's four heads: manas (mind, sense), buddhi (intellect, reasoning), citta (imagination, creativity) and ahamkara (self consciousness, ego).