Dear BBC ...

[nev young]

I noticed in the BBC <no longer called Ceefax> service a quick paragraph
or two about a Hindu Festival. I was drawn to part of the description:
"The devout will bathe at Sangam - the confluence of India's most sacred
Ganges river with the Yamuna river and the mythical Saraswati"

I thought it disrespectful to refer to the Goddess Saraswati as mythical.

I groove all gods and goddesses are mythical. So why assign the
adjective here?

A fuller story available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3e1488lvno

[Chris Elvidge]

Post by nev young
I noticed in the BBC <no longer called Ceefax> service a quick paragraph
"The devout will bathe at Sangam - the confluence of India's most sacred
Ganges river with the Yamuna river and the mythical Saraswati"
I thought it disrespectful to refer to the Goddess Saraswati as mythical.
I groove all gods and goddesses are mythical. So why assign the
adjective here?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3e1488lvno

I understood Sangam to be the confluence of three rivers: the Ganges
river, the Yamuna river and the mythical Saraswati river.

Of course, willing to be corrected.

[Sam Plusnet]

Post by nev young
I noticed in the BBC <no longer called Ceefax> service a quick paragraph
"The devout will bathe at Sangam - the confluence of India's most sacred
Ganges river with the Yamuna river and the mythical Saraswati"
I thought it disrespectful to refer to the Goddess Saraswati as mythical.
I groove all gods and goddesses are mythical. So why assign the
adjective here?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3e1488lvno

Poorly written perhaps, but I think that's a reference to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarasvati_River

and not to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati

So it's perfectly OK to refer to a mythical river as "mythical", but I
agree it would be a faux pas to do the same to a goddess.

P.S. The illustration on that second wiki page proves that you need
four arms to play one of those instruments properly.