On the bank of the Godavari at Basar in Telangana stands the Gnana Saraswati temple, one of the very few major temples of Saraswati — the Goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and the arts — in all of India. Tradition holds that the sage Veda Vyasa, after composing the Mahabharata, came here to find peace and worshipped the Goddess, fashioning her image from the sands of the Godavari; from Vyasara, the place of Vyasa, the name Basar is said to derive.
The temple is thronged above all for the Aksharabhyasam, the sacred ceremony in which young children are initiated into learning by writing their first letters in the presence of the Goddess. Basara Saraswati is a beloved seat of the Mother as wisdom, drawing families from across the Telugu land.
