Sarasvati or Yangchenma (Tib.) is the goddess of knowledge and wisdom.  She appears as a Buddhist yidam in her capacity as the personification of culture, learning and the arts, especially music and is sometimes considered the consort of Manjushri, the knowledge bodhisattva.  She plays a four-stringed lute pi wang (Tib.), as the sound of this instrument liberates one from the grasp of all defilements and obscurations by neutralizing negativities. The lute-playing Sarasvati can also be depicted in the celestial orchestra of the offering goddesses of music, song and dance.