Benzaiten (Sarasvati) with Two Dragons

Sarasvati is a river goddess in India. In Japan, we call her Benten or Benzaiten. This Benzaiten wears a crown of a white-coiled serpent. As a child, I visited the Zeniarai Bentenzaiten (money washing) shrine in the Kamakura Mountains where the waters of a spring in a small cave are said to be able to multiply the money washed in it. People washed their purses and wallets in the basket, and gave offerings of raw eggs to the white snake that supposedly lives in the cave.

The two dragons behind her hold the three treasures of Buddhism: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. She plays a Biwa like a Japanese Vina.

Benzaiten was the goddess of art, music, poetry and learning. As a river goddess, her energy flows from high to low, like money, so she also became the goddess of commerce and the protector of merchants to help them conduct ethical business.

-Mayumi Oda

A giclée (zhee-KLAY) is a fine art archival pigment print. A reproduction of an original artwork, which is digitally photographed and then precisely reproduced on a large format printer.

Our giclées are printed using the longest lasting pigmented inks on the finest papers available. We use a water based pigment printer on pH balanced paper. The best quality prints are created with 12-color ink sets, as used by our printer.

Currently, this is the only format in which to own many of Mayumi’s large thangka paintings.

 Please note: Medium & Large size are special order.