Manasa
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| Manasa | |
 Image of Manasa in a hut made of mud in a village in the Sundarbans, West Bengal, India |
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| Snakes and Poison | |
| Affiliation | Devi, Nāga |
|---|---|
| Consort | Sage Jagatkāru (Jaratkāru) |
Manasa (Bengali: মনসা, Manasha) 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 general prosperity. Manasa is the sister of Vasuki, king of Nāgas (snakes) and wife of sage Jagatkāru (Jaratkāru). [1] She is also known as Vishahara (the destroyer of poison), Jagadgaurī, Nityā (eternal) and Padmavati. [2]
Her myths emphasize her bad temper and unhappiness, due to rejection by her father Shiva or sage Kashyapa and her husband and the hate of her stepmother Chandi (Shiva's wife, identified with Parvati in this context). Manasa is depicted as kind to her devotees, but harsh on people who refused to worship her. [3] 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. [4]
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[edit] Origins
Originally a Adivasi goddess, Manasa was accepted in the worship of Hindu lower caste groups. Later, she was included in higher caste Hindu pantheons, where she is now regarded as Hindu goddess than a tribal one. [5] She was then recognized as a daughter of sage Kashyapa and Kadru, the mother of all Nāgas. By the 14th century, Manasa - the goddess of fertility and marriage rites - was assimilated into Shiva's pantheon. Myths, such as those which arose from Samudra manthan, glorified Manasa, who saved the Shiva after he drank poison. Manasa was then venerated as the "remover of poison". Her popularity grew and spread in southern India as well and began "to rival" Shaivism. In reaction, stories attributing Manasa's birth to Shiva emerged and thus Shaivism adopted the indigenous goddess in the Brahmanical tradition of mainstream Hinduism. [6]
[edit] Iconography
She is depicted as a woman covered with snakes, sitting on a lotus or standing upon a snake. She is flanked by a canopy of seven hoods of cobras. Sometimes, she is depicted with a child on her lap. The child is assumed to be her son Astīka. She is often called "the one-eyed goddess", as one of her eyes was burnt by her stepmother Chandi.
[edit] Legends
[edit] Mahabharata
The Mahabharata tells the story of Manasa's marriage. Sage Jagatkāru practised 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 and also helped in saving the Nāga race from destruction when King Janamejaya decided to exterminate them by sacrificing them in his Yajna. [7]
[edit] Puranas
Puranas are the first scriptures to speak about her birth. They declare sage Kashyapa her father, not Shiva as 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. Having chanted mantras, Manasa controlled the earth. Manasa then had sex with Shiva, who told her to please Krishna. On being pleased, Krishna granted divine Siddhi powers and ritually worshipped her, making an established goddess.
Kashyapa married her to sage Jaratkaru, who married Manasa on the condition that he would leave her if she disobeyed him. Once when Jaratkaru was woken by Manasa because he was late for worship he got upset and deserted her. On the request of the great Hindu gods, Jaratkaru returned to Manasa and they had a son named Astika. [8]
[edit] Mangalkavyas
The Mangalkavyas were devotional paeans to the local deities like Manasa, composed between 13th-18th century Bengal. 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 sculpted by Vasuki's mother was touched by Shiva's semen. Vasuki accepted Manasa as his sister and granted her the charge of the poison that emerged 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 to be 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. At one occasion, when Chandi kicked her Manasa made her senseless by the 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 (Netā). [9]
Finally, the sage Jaratkaru was married to Manasa, but Chandi ruined Manasa' wedding night. Chandi advised Manasa to wear snake ornaments and then threw a frog in the bridal chamber at which the snakes ran all over the place. As a consequence the terrified Jaratkaru ran away from the house. After few days, he returned and they had a son called Astika. [10]
Accompanied with her adviser Neto, she descended to earth to get human devotees. She was initially mocked by people but then Manasa forced them to worship her by raining calamity on those who denied her power. She managed to compel people from different walks of life, including the Muslim ruler Hasan, but failed to convert Chand Sadagar, an ardent Shiva and Chandi (identified with Durga in this context) devotee. In the process, Manasa killed Chand's six sons and left him bankrupt. She also killed Lakhindar, Chand's eldest son, on his wedding night. Chand's wife and widowed daughter-in-law tried to coax him to worship the goddess. At last, he yielded by offering a flower to the goddess with his left hand without even looking at the goddess. But this gesture made Manasa so happy she resurrected all Chand's sons and restored his fame and fortunes. The ‘’Mangal kavyas’’ say after this Manasa's worship became ever popular. [11]
Manasa Mangalkavya attributes her hardships in getting devotees to an unjust curse she gave in her anger to Chand in his previous birth to be born as a human, which retaliated with a counter-curse that her worship would not be popular on earth unless he worships her. [12]
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita say that "[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.." [13]
[edit] Worship
Generally, Manasa is worshipped without an idol. A branch of a tree, an earthen pot or an earthen snake image is worshipped as the goddess. [14] She can be worshipped in the form of an idol or even as a formless force (Kundalini). She is not only worshipped for protection from and cure of snake bites but also of infectious diseases like smallpox.
The cult of the goddess 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. [15] Also, Manasa is specially worshipped on Nag Panchami - a festival of snake worship during the Hindu month of Shravan (July-August). Bengali women observe a fast (vrata) on this day and offer milk at snake holes. [16]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Wilkins p.395
- ^ Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, By John Dowson, Published 2003, Kessinger Publishing, 432 pages, ISBN 0766175898 p.196
- ^ McDaniel p.148
- ^ Radice, William, Myths and Legends of India, 2001, p. 130-138, Viking Penguin Books Ltd., ISBN 9780670049370
- ^ McDaniel p.148
- ^ Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations By Karen Tate, Published 2005, CCC Publishing, 424 pages, ISBN 1888729112
- ^ Wilkins p.396
- ^ Tales from the Puranas By Mahesh Sharma pp.38-40 ,Published 2005, Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd., ISBN 8128810405
- ^ McLean p. 66
- ^ McDaniel p.149-51.
- ^ Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita pp.324-30
- ^ McDaniel p.152
- ^ Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Sister Nivedita, 2003, Kessinger Publishing, 448 pages, ISBN 0766145158, pp.330
- ^ Wilkins p.395
- ^ "Manasa." Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/manasa.html Accessed December 27, 2007.
- ^ McDaniel (2002) p.55-57
[edit] References
- Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Benegal By June McDaniel, Published 2004, Oxford University Press, US, 368 pages, ISBN 0195167902
- Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic By W. J. Wilkins, 2004, Kessinger Publishing, 428 pages, ISBN 0766188817 (First published: 1882)
- Making Virtuous Daughters and Wives: An Introduction to Women's Brata Rituals in Bengali Folk Religion By June McDaniel, Published 2002, SUNY Press, 144 pages, ISBN 0791455653
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