Who is Saraswati?
Saraswati. is the Hindu Goddess of the arts, of beauty, truth and embodies knowledge in all its forms. All persons interested in learning, especially students, teachers, scholars, and scientists, worship goddess Saraswati.

From her rivers flow inspiration, benevolence and nourishment for body and soul. The Sanskrit word 'sara' means "essence" and swa means "self." Thus Saraswati means "the essence of the self." She is known as "the one who flows. Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. In the Hindu religion, since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative power of Brahma.

She is pre-eminently associated with the best in human culture: poetry, literature, sacred rituals, and rational communication between individuals. Public speakers, politicians, poets and all those wishing their words to be heard invoke her name. As the embodiment of speech, Saraswati is present wherever speech exists.

Saraswati is symbolized by a beautiful woman with four hands, riding on a white swan among water lilies to tell humanity that science is like a beautiful woman. Her hands hold a palm leaf lontar (a Balinese traditional book which is the source of science or knowledge); a circular chain (genitri or rosary akshamala with 108 pieces) symbolising that knowledge is never ending and has an everlasting life cycle; and a musical instrument (guitar or veena lute) through which she is thought to tune the mind and intellect with her knowledge, and thus the seeker can be in harmony with the universe. The swans symbolise prudence, so that one's knowledge may distinguish between good and evil, and the water lilies (Lotus) are symbols of holiness. The Lotus flower is the holiest for Balinese.

The four arms denote her omnipresence and omnipotence. The two front arms indicate her activity in the physical world and the two back arms signify her presence in the spiritual world. The four hands represent the four elements of the inner personality. The mind (manas) is represented by the front right hand, the intellect (Buddhi) by the front left hand, the conditioned consciousness (chitta) by the rear left hand, and the ego (ahankara) by the rear right hand. The book in the rear left hand signifies that knowledge acquired must be used with love and kindness to promote prosperity of humankind. Every six months and based on the Balinese calendar of Pawukon, we celebrate Saraswati Day, the knowledge day. The philosophy of Saraswati Day is that the most important thing for human life is knowledge.

The day before Saraswati, called Pangredanan is considered the day of preparation. All the books and lontar are collected together, cleaned and dusted.
Saraswati day itself is celebrated by the Balinese people bringing offerings to these holy books and scrolls in their houses, while students celebrate it at school, usually in the morning, and the office-workers in their office. The offerings vary but typically consist of small plate-like baskets woven from palm fronds filled with flower petals, sweet biscuits, other symbolic items and usually a stick of incense is lit and placed on top.
About Saraswati Papers

Hand crafted in Bali with integrity and named Saraswati Papers for the Hindu Goddess of the arts, beauty, knowledge, science and poetry – people continually tell us that our papers and products embody all of these divine attributes.

What makes them even more special is that our beautiful products are created using recycled and other organic materials.

Let us tell you our story: Kali Sari, founder of Saraswati Papers was always taking on creative endeavors. As a professionally trained chef, she worked with the sensual creation and presentation of food in various countries. Her interest in cuisine and the world eventually led her to Bali where she adopted this magical island as her new home in the early eighties.

While a magical and beautiful place, she recognized that Bali was struggling with ever-increasing pollution caused by a growing and modernizing society. With this concern and a life-long interest in all things paper, she started to put her kitchen blender to new use and began to experiment making handcrafted paper from recycled materials. The joy and passion she had for food and their colors, taste, texture including the art of recipe development, was now applied to creating beautiful and organic paper.A paper-making course later and with the support of the Wisnu Foundation (a not-for-profit foundation concerned with the conservation of the Balinese environment), Saraswati Papers was born in May 1995.

Working out of her house and kitchen for the first six months, Kali enlisted a team of Balinese village women to learn the skillful art of papermaking. The methods used were the ancient and traditional process of blending, dipping and pressing sheets of paper by hand and hanging it out to dry.

The age-old process was enhanced by her love for teaching the importance of pairing deliberate and careful preparation with final presentation – and adding that extra pinch of salt. The result was exceptional hand-crafted paper. Soon thereafter, someone placed an order for their gift shop followed quickly by other interested proprietors.

Through word of mouth our cottage-industry business was born. It was to become a business that allows her the opportunity to provide a sustainable trade and income to local women while also reducing the trash influx in Bali.
Each folio of our hand-made paper is made using 100% post consumer recycled paper collected from schools, offices, hotels and homes around Bali.

It is colored using natural dyes predominantly taken from the earth, roots and leaves, and is textured with the addition of sustainable plant fibers such as bamboo and flower petals. No chemicals or bleaches are used at any stage of the paper making process. The variations and irregularities, which occur in our products are a reflection of the art itself and distinguish Saraswati Papers as a handmade product of environmental integrity.

There is no sort of production line, the papers and products are handmade - from start to finish – in our garden-front studio by our group of local and creative women. Over the years the cottage business has become a boutique business in that the specialty of Saraswati Papers is the team’s ability to create and adapt designs and products to a customer’s specific needs. Our standards are of high quality with attention to the detail. We incorporate our hand made papers with silk screened and laminated cotton papers that are also made in our studio and use other hand crafted materials from around the Indonesian archipelago to recreate a time honoured tradition.

The result, a wide range of earth friendly products and finishes that is sensuous and beautiful. We believe you too will be inspired by our papers. Thank you for your interest in Saraswati papers, for a concern about the environment and our efforts in creating sustainable work and products here in Bali.
 
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