Manasa

Origin

Bhattacharya and Sen suggest that Manasa originated in South India as a non-Vedic and non-Aryan goddess and is related to the Kannada folk snake-goddess Mane-Manchamma, Nāgamma or Muddamma. Manasa was originally an Adivasi (tribal) goddess. She was accepted in the pantheon worshipped by Hindu groups. Later, Dimock suggests that although snake worship is found in the Vedas (the earliest Hindu scriptures), Manasa - a human goddess of snakes - has "little basis" in early Hinduism. Bhattacharya suggests another influence on Manasa being the poison-curing Mahayana Buddhist goddess, Janguli. Janguli shares her swan vehicle and her "poison-destroyer" epithet with Manasa. A theory suggests that Janguli may have been influenced by the Kirata-giri ("the conqueror of all poisons") of the Atharvaveda. According to McDaniel, she was included in the higher-caste Hindu pantheon, where she is now regarded as a Hindu goddess rather than a tribal one.

According to Tate, Manasa as Jaratkaru was initially recognized as a daughter of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru, the mother of all nagas in the epic Mahabharata. According to Bhattacharya, the Jaratkaru of the Mahabharata is not the Manasa popular in Bengal.

By the 14th century, Manasa was identified as the goddess of fertility and marriage rites and was assimilated into the Shaiva pantheon, related to the god Shiva. Myths glorified her by describing that she saved Shiva after he drank the poison, and venerated her as the "remover of poison". Her popularity grew and spread to southern India, and the cult of her followers began to rival the earliest Shaivism (the cult of Shiva). 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. Alternatively, Vasudev suggests that the Bengali tale of Manasa reflects rivalry between Shaivism and the goddess-centric Shaktism.

Iconography

Manasa is depicted as a beautiful woman with a golden complexion (hence the nickname Gauri, Golden) and smiling face. She wears red garments and gold jewellery. She has four arms, with her upper right hand holding a shankh (conch) and her left hand holding her favorite flower - a lotus. Her lower left hand holds a snake and the right lower right hand displays Abhayamudra (gesture of fearlessness). She is covered with snakes, sitting on a lotus platform (thus known by her epithet Padmalaya) or standing upon a snake. She is sheltered by the canopy of the hoods of seven cobras. Sometimes, she is depicted with a child (assumed to be her son, Astika) on her lap. Her vahana (mount) is a swan. She is also accompanied by Neta (Neto), her female companion.

In Bengal, she is rarely seen with her husband, Jaratkaru. In some of her idols she is shown with Behula and Lakshminder.

Legend

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata mentions Manasa (known here as Jaratkaru) in passing reference in the tale of Jaratkaru and Astika. Sage Jaratkaru 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 Jaratkaru 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 Jaratkaru. Manasa gave birth to a son, Astika, who freed his ancestors. Astika also helped in saving the naga race from destruction when King Janamejaya decided to exterminate them by sacrificing them in his yajna, called the sarpa satra.

Puranas

The Puranas are the first scriptures to speak about her birth. They declare that sage Kashyapa is her father, not Shiva as described in the later Mangalkavyas. Once, when serpents and reptiles had created chaos on the Earth, Kashyapa created the 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 mantras she chanted. Manasa then propitiated the god Shiva, who told her to please the god 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 left her temporarily.

Mangalkavyas

The Mangalkavyas were devotional paeans to local deities such as Manasa, composed in Bengal between the 13th and the 18th centuries. The Manasa Mangalkavya by Vijay Gupta (Bijoy Gupta, late 15th century) and Manasa Vijaya (1495) by Bipradas Pipilai trace the origin and myths of the goddess. However these stray further from Puranaic references probably due to creative licenses exercised. At least fifteen Mangalkavyas dedicated to Manasa are known. Scholar D. C. Sen traced fifty-one versions of her tale. The Padmapurana by Sukavi Narayandev (17th century) is well-known in Assam, especially performed in Ojapali dance.

According to Manasa Vijaya, Manasa was born when a statue of a girl that had been sculpted by Vasuki's mother which was touched by Shiva's seed. Vasuki accepted Manasa as his sister, and granted her the charge of poison that was produced when King Prithu milked the Earth as a cow. When Shiva saw Manasa, he was 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 her left eye, 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 see 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. Manasa wanted to become a mainstream goddess like Lakshmi or Saraswati. To get there, she had to achieve the worship of Chand Sadagar who was extremely adamant and took oath not to worship Manasa. Thus to gain his fear and insecurity, Manasa one by one killed his six sons. At last Manasa conspired against two dancers of Indras Court who loved each other, Anirudha and Usha. Anirudh had to take birth as Lakhinder, Chand and Sanaka's seventh son. Usha took birth as Behula and married him. Manasa killed him but Behula floated on water for nine months with the dead body of her husband and finally brought back the lives of the seven sons and the lost prosperity of Chand. 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.

The 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...".

Worship

Generally, Manasa is worshipped without an image. A branch of a cactus 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.

In South Bengal, she is ritually worshipped in the local temples as well as in the houses. Almost every Hindu household has a dedicated shrine for goddess Manasa along with Lord Vishnu (Hari), the duo represented by the branch of cactus tree and tulsi tree respectively.

The goddess is widely worshipped in the rainy season (especially months of Shravan and Bhadra), when the snakes are most active. Manasa is also a very important fertility deity, and her blessings are invoked for child bearing. She is commonly worshipped alongside her female companion Neta, who is considered a manifestation of her destructive power. Described as a vindicative goddess in Bengal's Mangalkavyas, Manasa is required to be pleased to avoid her wrath, manifested as snake bite, disease, childlessness or starvation.

In North Bengal, among the Rajbanshis, Manasa (called Bishohora, Bishohori or Padmavati) is one of the most important goddesses, and her thaan (shrine) may be found in the courtyard of almost every agrarian household. Among the lower-caste Hindus of East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) too, she is worshipped with great pomp.

Manasa is an especially important deity in Bengal for the mercantile castes. This is because Chando of the Manasamangal was the first to initiate her worship, and Behula, the heroine of the Manasamangal was a daughter of the Saha clan (a powerful trading community).

Manasa is the prime deity of Anga Region, specially in Anga's capital, Champa (now Bhagalpur). It is believed that the story of Chand Saudagar and Behula started from this very place. In the old quarters of Champanagar in the city, stands an enormous temple of Manasa. Several artefacts and sculptures found in and around the place made locals believed that it was where Chand Saudagar had his Rajbari. A recent excavation has also found "Loha- Bashor ghor" or "Bashor ghor", the building made specifically for the wedding night of Lakhendar and Behula. The Angika lokgatha, "Behula Bishari Lokgatha" and the regional art, Manjusha Chitrakatha is full flegedly based on the chronicles of Manasa and the hardships of Behula. Every year, from 16 to 19 August, Bhagalpur springs up like a scented flower to worship the local guardian Manasa and commemorate the wedding of Behula

Manasa is also worshipped extensively in Assam, and a form of Oja-Pali (musical folk theatre) is dedicated entirely to her myth.

Manasa is ceremonially worshipped on Nag Panchami - a festival of snake worship in the Hindu month of Shravan (July–August). Hindu women observe a fast (vrata) on this day and offer milk at snake holes. Manasa devi is worshipped between November and February each year since 120 years at the Manasa Devi mandir at Lala bagan, Kolkata.

Notable temples

• Shri Manasa Devi Temple (Swayambu), Kasimpet(Manasavaram), Karimnagar, Telangana
• Ma Manasha Mandir, Fulidanga, Tarapith - West Bengal
• Mansa Bishari Temple, Bhagalpur, Bihar
• Manasa Debi Temple, Varanasi
• Mansa Devi Temple, Mukkamala, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Naidupeta, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Tilaru, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Dornipadu, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Kanumalapalle, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Chinadugam, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Thurpu Rompidodla, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh
• Mansa Devi Temple, Vadluru, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh
• Ma Manasha Mandir, Lake Town, Kolkata, West Bengal
• Ma Manasha Mandir, Halshi Bagan, (Lala Bagan) Simla Street, Kolkata, West Bengal
• Ma Manasa Mandir, Gopinagar, Khamarchandi, Haripal, Hooghly, West Bengal
• Ma Manasa Mandir, Jakpur, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal