Manasa
Encyclopedia
Manasa is a Hindu
folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal
and other parts of northeastern India
, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and prosperity. Manasa is the sister of Vasuki
, king of Nāga
s (snakes) and wife of sage Jagatkāru (Jaratkāru). She is also known as Vishahara (the destroyer of poison), Jagadgaurī, Nityā (eternal) and Padmavati.
Her myths emphasize her bad temper and unhappiness, due to rejection by her father Shiva
and her husband, and the hatred of her stepmother, Chandi
(Shiva's wife, identified with Parvati
in this context). In some scriptures, sage Kashyapa is considered to be her father, rather than Shiva. Manasa is depicted as kind to her devotees, but harsh to people who refused to worship her. Denied full godhead by her mixed parentage, Manasa’s aim was to fully establish her authority as a goddess and to acquire steadfast human devotees.
(tribal) goddess, Manasa was accepted in the pantheon worshipped by Hindu lower caste
groups. Later, she was included in a higher caste Hindu pantheon, where she is now regarded as a Hindu goddess rather than a tribal one. As a Hindu goddess, she was recognized as a daughter of sage Kashyapa and Kadru
, the mother of all Nāga
s. By the 14th century, Manasa was identified as the goddess of fertility and marriage rites and was assimilated into the Shaiva pantheon as a relative of Shiva. Myths glorified her by describing that she saved Shiva after he drank poison
, and venerated her as the "remover of poison". Her popularity grew and spread to southern India, and her cult began to rival Shaivism itself. As a consequence, stories attributing Manasa's birth to Shiva emerged and ultimately Shaivism adopted this indigenous goddess into the Brahmanical tradition of mainstream Hinduism.
or standing upon a snake. She is sheltered by the canopy of the hoods of seven cobra
s. Sometimes, she is depicted with a child on her lap. The child is assumed to be her son, Astika
. She is often called "the one-eyed goddess", as one of her eyes was burnt by her stepmother Chandi.
tells the story of Manasa's marriage. Sage Jagatkāru practiced severe austerities and had decided to abstain from marriage. Once he came across a group of men hanging from a tree upside down. These men were his ancestors, who were doomed to misery as their children had not performed their last rites. So they advised Jagatkāru to marry and have a son who could free them of those miseries by performing the ceremonies. Vasuki offered his sister Manasa's hand to Jagatkāru. Manasa mothered a son, Astīka
, who freed his ancestors. Astika also helped in saving the Nāga race from destruction when King Janamejaya
decided to exterminate them by sacrificing them in his Yajna
, fire offering.
are the first scriptures to speak about her birth. They declare that sage Kashyapa is her father, not Shiva as described in the Mangalkavyas. Once, when serpents and reptiles had created chaos on the earth, sage Kashyapa created goddess Manasa from his mind (mana). The creator god Brahma
made her the presiding deity of snakes and reptiles. Manasa gained control over the earth, by the power of mantra
s she chanted. Manasa then propitiated the god, Shiva, who told her to please Krishna
. Upon being pleased, Krishna granted her divine Siddhi
powers and ritually worshipped her, making her an established goddess.
Kashyapa married Manasa to sage Jaratkaru, who agreed to marry her on the condition that he would leave her if she disobeyed him. Once, when Jaratkaru was awakened by Manasa, he became upset with her because she awakened him too late for worship, and so he deserted her. On the request of the great Hindu gods, Jaratkaru returned to Manasa and she gave birth to Astika, their son.
The Mangalkavyas were devotional paean
s to local deities such as Manasa, composed in Bengal between the 13th and the 18th centuries. The Manasa Mangalkavya
by Bijay Gupta and Manasa Vijaya (1495) by Bipradas Pipilai
trace the origin and myths of the goddess.
According to Manasa Vijaya, Manasa was born when a statue of girl that had been sculpted by Vasuki's mother was touched by Shiva
's semen. Vasuki accepted Manasa as his sister, and granted her charge of the poison that was produced when King Prithu
milked the Earth as a cow. When Shiva saw Manasa, he was sexually attracted to her, but she proved to him that he was her father. Shiva took Manasa to his home where his wife, Chandi
, suspected Manasa of being Shiva's concubine or co-wife, and insulted Manasa and burnt one of her eyes, leaving Manasa half-blind. Later, when Shiva was dying of poison, Manasa cured him. On one occasion, when Chandi kicked her, Manasa rendered her senseless with a glance of her poison eye. Finally, tired of quarrels between Manasa and Chandi, Shiva deserted Manasa under a tree, but created a companion for her from his tears of remorse, called Neto or Netā.
Later, the sage Jaratkaru married Manasa, but Chandi ruined Manasa's wedding night. Chandi advised Manasa to wear snake ornaments and then threw a frog in the bridal chamber which caused the snakes to run around the chamber. As a consequence, the terrified Jaratkaru ran away from the house. After few days, he returned and Astika, their son, was born.
Accompanied by her adviser, Neto, Manasa descended to earth to obtain human devotees. She was initially mocked by the people but then Manasa forced them to worship her by raining calamity on those who denied her power. She managed to convert people from different walks of life, including the Muslim
ruler Hasan, but failed to convert Chand Sadagar
, an ardent Shiva and Chandi devotee. In attempting to convert him, Manasa killed Chand's six sons and left him bankrupt. She also killed Lakhindar, Chand's youngest son, on his wedding night. Chand's wife and widowed daughter-in-law tried to coax him to worship Manasa. At last, he yielded by offering a flower to the goddess with his left hand without even looking at her. This gesture made Manasa so happy that she resurrected all of Chand's sons and restored his fame and fortunes. The Mangal kavyas say that after this, the worship of Manasa was popular forever more.
Manasa Mangalkavya attributes Manasa's difficulty in attracting devotees to an unjust curse she gave to Chand in his previous life. Chand then retaliated with a counter-curse that worshipping her would not be popular on earth unless he worshipped her also.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita
say, "[The] legend of [Chand Sadagar and] Manasā Devī, [...] who must be as old as the Mykenean
stratum in Asiatic society, reflects the conflict between the religion of Shiva and that of female local deities in Bengal. Afterwards Manasā or Padmā was recognized as a form of Shakti
, [...] and her worship accepted by Shaivas. She is a phase of the mother-divinity who for so many worshippers is nearer and dearer than the far-off and impersonal Shiva...".
and chicken pox.
The cult of Manasa is most widespread in Bengal, where she is ritually worshipped in temples. The goddess is widely worshipped in the rainy season, when the snakes are most active.
Manasa is ceremonially worshipped on Nag Panchami
- a festival of snake worship in the Hindu month of Shravan
(July-August). Bengali women observe a fast (vrata
) on this day and offer milk at snake holes.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and other parts of northeastern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and prosperity. Manasa is the sister of Vasuki
Vasuki
Vasuki is a Sanskrit name for a naga, one of the serpents of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a great King of the nagas and has a gem on his head. Manasa, another naga, is his sister...
, king of Nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
s (snakes) and wife of sage Jagatkāru (Jaratkāru). She is also known as Vishahara (the destroyer of poison), Jagadgaurī, Nityā (eternal) and Padmavati.
Her myths emphasize her bad temper and unhappiness, due to rejection by her father Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and her husband, and the hatred of her stepmother, Chandi
Chandi
Chandi or Chandika is the supreme Goddess of Devi Mahatmya also known as Chandi or Durga Sapthashati. Chandi is described as the Supreme reality who is a combination of Mahakali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati...
(Shiva's wife, identified with Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
in this context). In some scriptures, sage Kashyapa is considered to be her father, rather than Shiva. Manasa is depicted as kind to her devotees, but harsh to people who refused to worship her. Denied full godhead by her mixed parentage, Manasa’s aim was to fully establish her authority as a goddess and to acquire steadfast human devotees.
Origins
Originally an AdivasiAdivasi
Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...
(tribal) goddess, Manasa was accepted in the pantheon worshipped by Hindu lower caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
groups. Later, she was included in a higher caste Hindu pantheon, where she is now regarded as a Hindu goddess rather than a tribal one. As a Hindu goddess, she was recognized as a daughter of sage Kashyapa and Kadru
Kadru
In the mythology of India, Kadru , is usually the daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa, and the mother of the Nagas. This is according to the Mahabharata ....
, the mother of all Nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
s. By the 14th century, Manasa was identified as the goddess of fertility and marriage rites and was assimilated into the Shaiva pantheon as a relative of Shiva. Myths glorified her by describing that she saved Shiva after he drank poison
Samudra manthan
In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or Ksheera Sagara Mathanam, Churning of the Ocean of Milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas...
, and venerated her as the "remover of poison". Her popularity grew and spread to southern India, and her cult began to rival Shaivism itself. As a consequence, stories attributing Manasa's birth to Shiva emerged and ultimately Shaivism adopted this indigenous goddess into the Brahmanical tradition of mainstream Hinduism.
Iconography
Manasa is depicted as a woman covered with snakes, sitting on a lotusLotus (plant)
Lotus identifies various plant taxa:* Nelumbo, a genus of aquatic plants with showy flowers** Nelumbo nucifera, the Sacred or Indian lotus** Nelumbo lutea, the American or Yellow lotus...
or standing upon a snake. She is sheltered by the canopy of the hoods of seven cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
s. Sometimes, she is depicted with a child on her lap. The child is assumed to be her son, Astika
Astika (mythology)
Astika was an ancient Hindu rishi , and he was a son of Jaratkaru by the serpent goddess Manasa - a sister of the great serpent king Vasuki. According to the Mahabharata, he saved the life of a serpent named Takshaka when king Janamejaya made his great sacrifices of serpents...
. She is often called "the one-eyed goddess", as one of her eyes was burnt by her stepmother Chandi.
Mahabharata
The MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
tells the story of Manasa's marriage. Sage Jagatkāru practiced severe austerities and had decided to abstain from marriage. Once he came across a group of men hanging from a tree upside down. These men were his ancestors, who were doomed to misery as their children had not performed their last rites. So they advised Jagatkāru to marry and have a son who could free them of those miseries by performing the ceremonies. Vasuki offered his sister Manasa's hand to Jagatkāru. Manasa mothered a son, Astīka
Astika (mythology)
Astika was an ancient Hindu rishi , and he was a son of Jaratkaru by the serpent goddess Manasa - a sister of the great serpent king Vasuki. According to the Mahabharata, he saved the life of a serpent named Takshaka when king Janamejaya made his great sacrifices of serpents...
, who freed his ancestors. Astika also helped in saving the Nāga race from destruction when King Janamejaya
Janamejaya
Janamejaya was a Kuru king. He was the son of Parikshit and Madravati. He was the grandson of Abhimanyu and the great-grandson of Arjuna, the valiant warrior hero of the Mahābhārata. He was ascended to the Kuru throne following the death of his father. His significance comes as the listener of the...
decided to exterminate them by sacrificing them in his Yajna
Yajna
In Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...
, fire offering.
Puranas
PuranasPuranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
are the first scriptures to speak about her birth. They declare that sage Kashyapa is her father, not Shiva as described in the Mangalkavyas. Once, when serpents and reptiles had created chaos on the earth, sage Kashyapa created goddess Manasa from his mind (mana). The creator god Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
made her the presiding deity of snakes and reptiles. Manasa gained control over the earth, by the power of mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
s she chanted. Manasa then propitiated the god, Shiva, who told her to please Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. Upon being pleased, Krishna granted her divine Siddhi
Siddhi
is a Sanskrit noun that can be translated as "perfection", "accomplishment", "attainment", or "success". The term is first attested in the Mahabharata. In the Pancatantra, a siddhi may be any unusual skill or faculty or capability...
powers and ritually worshipped her, making her an established goddess.
Kashyapa married Manasa to sage Jaratkaru, who agreed to marry her on the condition that he would leave her if she disobeyed him. Once, when Jaratkaru was awakened by Manasa, he became upset with her because she awakened him too late for worship, and so he deserted her. On the request of the great Hindu gods, Jaratkaru returned to Manasa and she gave birth to Astika, their son.
Mangalkavyas
Paean
A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice...
s to local deities such as Manasa, composed in Bengal between the 13th and the 18th centuries. The Manasa Mangalkavya
Manasamangal Kavya
Manasamangal Kāvya is the oldest of the Mangal-Kāvya and narrates how the snake-goddess Manasa established her worship in Bengal by converting a worshipper of Shiva to her own worship. Manasa was a non-Aryan deity and her worship was an ancient one in Bengal...
by Bijay Gupta and Manasa Vijaya (1495) by Bipradas Pipilai
Bipradas Pipilai
Bipradas Pipilai , was a 15th century poet. He was the son of Mukunda Pipilai, the family hailed from Badurya-Batagram in 24 Parganas, now in the Indian state of West Bengal.-The Manasa Vijay:...
trace the origin and myths of the goddess.
According to Manasa Vijaya, Manasa was born when a statue of girl that had been sculpted by Vasuki's mother was touched by Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
's semen. Vasuki accepted Manasa as his sister, and granted her charge of the poison that was produced when King Prithu
Prithu
According to Hindu mythology, Prithu is a sovereign , named in the Vedic scriptures and considered an Avatar of the preserver god—Vishnu. He is also called Pruthu, Prithi and Prithu Vainya, literally, Prithu — the son of Vena...
milked the Earth as a cow. When Shiva saw Manasa, he was sexually attracted to her, but she proved to him that he was her father. Shiva took Manasa to his home where his wife, Chandi
Chandi
Chandi or Chandika is the supreme Goddess of Devi Mahatmya also known as Chandi or Durga Sapthashati. Chandi is described as the Supreme reality who is a combination of Mahakali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati...
, suspected Manasa of being Shiva's concubine or co-wife, and insulted Manasa and burnt one of her eyes, leaving Manasa half-blind. Later, when Shiva was dying of poison, Manasa cured him. On one occasion, when Chandi kicked her, Manasa rendered her senseless with a glance of her poison eye. Finally, tired of quarrels between Manasa and Chandi, Shiva deserted Manasa under a tree, but created a companion for her from his tears of remorse, called Neto or Netā.
Later, the sage Jaratkaru married Manasa, but Chandi ruined Manasa's wedding night. Chandi advised Manasa to wear snake ornaments and then threw a frog in the bridal chamber which caused the snakes to run around the chamber. As a consequence, the terrified Jaratkaru ran away from the house. After few days, he returned and Astika, their son, was born.
Accompanied by her adviser, Neto, Manasa descended to earth to obtain human devotees. She was initially mocked by the people but then Manasa forced them to worship her by raining calamity on those who denied her power. She managed to convert people from different walks of life, including the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
ruler Hasan, but failed to convert Chand Sadagar
Chand Sadagar
Chand Sadagar, , , was a rich and powerful merchant of Champak Nagar in ancient India. Bipradas Pipilai gave an account in his Manasamangal about the merchant ship of the trader Chand Saudagar proceeding to the sea, passing through Saptagram and Tribeni, the tri junction of the Ganges, Saraswati...
, an ardent Shiva and Chandi devotee. In attempting to convert him, Manasa killed Chand's six sons and left him bankrupt. She also killed Lakhindar, Chand's youngest son, on his wedding night. Chand's wife and widowed daughter-in-law tried to coax him to worship Manasa. At last, he yielded by offering a flower to the goddess with his left hand without even looking at her. This gesture made Manasa so happy that she resurrected all of Chand's sons and restored his fame and fortunes. The Mangal kavyas say that after this, the worship of Manasa was popular forever more.
Manasa Mangalkavya attributes Manasa's difficulty in attracting devotees to an unjust curse she gave to Chand in his previous life. Chand then retaliated with a counter-curse that worshipping her would not be popular on earth unless he worshipped her also.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita
Sister Nivedita
- A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda Sister Nivedita ; ; , born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was a Scots-Irish social worker, author, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta, India in 1898...
say, "[The] legend of [Chand Sadagar and] Manasā Devī, [...] who must be as old as the Mykenean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
stratum in Asiatic society, reflects the conflict between the religion of Shiva and that of female local deities in Bengal. Afterwards Manasā or Padmā was recognized as a form of Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
, [...] and her worship accepted by Shaivas. She is a phase of the mother-divinity who for so many worshippers is nearer and dearer than the far-off and impersonal Shiva...".
Worship
Generally, Manasa is worshipped without an image. A branch of a tree, an earthen pot or an earthen snake image is worshipped as the goddess, though images of Manasa are worshipped too. She is worshipped for protection from and cure of snake bites and infectious diseases like smallpoxSmallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and chicken pox.
The cult of Manasa is most widespread in Bengal, where she is ritually worshipped in temples. The goddess is widely worshipped in the rainy season, when the snakes are most active.
Manasa is ceremonially worshipped on Nag Panchami
Nag panchami
Nāg Panchamī is a festival during which religious Hindus in some parts of India worship either images of or live Nāgas on the fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana. Traditionally, married young women visit their premarital households to celebrate the festival...
- a festival of snake worship in the Hindu month of Shravan
Shravan
Shravan is a Sanskrit word, which literally means listening.* Shravanam is one of the nine most important angas of bhakti.Shravan Kumar belonged to the time when King Dashratha ruled Ayodhya. He was born of poor and blind parents, but they had brought him up remarkably well. He was strong healthy...
(July-August). Bengali women observe a fast (vrata
Vrata
In the context of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, the term vrata denotes a religious practice to carry out certain obligations with a view to achieve divine blessing for fulfillment of one or several desires. Etymologically, vrata, a Sanskrit word , means to vow or to promise...
) on this day and offer milk at snake holes.