Some details about Manasa Devi
Manasa Devi’s symbol is the sun rising over the crescent, but it is the crescent lying horizontally: flip the letter C to the left, or just imagine a smile. In the time before the arrival of the prophet Mohammed, the people of the countries that are now Islamic worshiped the moon god or moon goddess. Some say that this is how the symbol of the sun with the moon came to Islam and thus to the national flags of Islamic countries. The Islamic tradition is to represent the crescent moon in the position of the letter C. Simply turn this letter to the left and you will see the Moon Goddess smiling at you.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita: “Of the stars, I am the Moon.” As you can see, the moon has always had a strong influence on the thinking of various cultures. Manasa Devi, although she is a cobra goddess, she is strongly associated with the moon and we can accept her as a moon goddess.
The Devi Bhagavatam Purana says, “The color of Manasa is white like the color of the white flower of Champaka.” Its physical manifestation in nature is a very rare white cobra. This precious and rarely found snake lives in pairs. Legends say that on the night when the full moon is magnificently bright, both partners, the Shweta Nag couple, take human form.
In the temple of 64 Yoginis in Hirapur you will find a statue of the goddess named Ranavira/Padmavati; she stands on a snake. Manasa Devi has more names: Jagatkaru Priya, Jagat Gauri, Mansa Devi, Sidh Yogini, Padmavati, Naag Bhaamini, Shaivi, Jaratkaaru, Aastik Mata, Maha Gyaan Yuktaa, Naageshwari, Vish Haar and probably a few more as well. Astika, an ancient Hindu Rishi (a sage), is Manasa’s son whom she conceived with Jaratkaru. Jaratkaru was a mythological sage. This is why you will often see the name Jaratkaru or Astika along with variations of the Manasa name. Astika, the son of Jaratkaru and Manasa, was a great sage. At a critical time in the past, he helped prevent the genocide of the Nagas, the ancient serpent people of India.
The Serpent Goddess also has her place in the Vedas, particularly in the Rig Veda Brahmanas (the Brahmanas are commentaries on the Vedas and belong to them). In Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda you will also find references to snake worship.
Manasa Devi sometimes comes down to Earth to get devotees as people have not always accepted her. She sometimes uses her magical powers. If she fails, she imposes calamities on those who deny her magic. She managed to convert people from different walks of life and this is how she has been preserved as both the Goddess of the Moon and the Goddess of the Serpent in the mythologies of the world. Heket, the Egyptian goddess of the moon (and birth), was one of Manasa’s counterparts.
Manasa Devi is also a fertility goddess, because the moon and fertility belong to each other like a cup belongs to tea. The moon influences a woman’s menstrual cycle and her fertility. Women have traditionally been (if they live in harmony with nature) more fertile at the time of the full moon.
Manasa Devi was primarily a predictive deity and her worship was ancient in Bengal. However, the worship of snakes in ancient times was not only widespread in Bengal, but also in other parts of the world. The Slavs have their own Divine Mother with serpent-woman attributes and their ancient earth symbol was a white serpent.
Christianity developed in a part of the world where there are no such deadly snakes as in Asia. Christians need to understand that tribal people need to protect themselves against snake bites on all fronts and that is why they chose a spiritual guide against these deadly bites. Manasa is therefore traditionally the Queen of Cobras. Some sources say that she came to Bengal with the Dravidians who worshiped her in the hope that she would bear strong children to her mothers.
Manasamangal Kavya – The Story of Manasa
Manasamangal Kavya narrates a story of how Manasa renewed his worship in Bengal. It is the oldest of the Mangal-Kavya, a group of Bengali Hindu religious texts. It was sometimes written after the 13th century AD and mentions other deities indigenous to rural Bengal.
Mangal kavyas are devotional Bengali poems dedicated to rural deities. Of these I can mention Dharmathakur, a popular deity. The worship of him is also based on caste conflict, as orthodox Brahmanism deprived the lower castes of the right to have access to Brahmanical learning.
Chand Sadagar was a wealthy merchant. When Manasa came down to Earth, he managed to convert new devotees, but he failed to convert Chand, an ardent devotee of Shiva and Chandika. His collision with his resistance erupted into such anger at Chand that he finally destroyed all of his children and left him ruined.
However, the affected merchant still did not accept Manasa. He preferred to start a new life with the same attitude and became the father of Lakhindar. Due to his fear of Manasa, he took all possible measures to prevent the deadly snakes from reaching his house, but Manasa, the Snake Goddess, was smarter. He asked two heavenly beings (Apsaras) for help and persuaded them to be reborn as human beings. One Apsara was born in the body of Chand’s youngest son, Lakhindar, the other as the daughter (Behula) of Saha, a business associate of Chand. Manasa knew that these two would change Chand’s stubborn mind. This is how Behula was born. Both Behula and Lakhindar were devotees of Manasa.
As soon as Behula and Lakhindar went to bed on their wedding night, Manasa slithered into the bedroom like a snake and killed Chand’s youngest son. It was exceptionally difficult for Behula to see her dead husband and accept the knowledge of who intrigued this, but her love for Manasa did not weaken.
Lakhindar’s body was not cremated due to a custom that allowed relatives to send anyone who died of snakebite down the river on a raft. This custom was based on the belief that such a person would miraculously come back to life. In European mythology, the snake is also a symbol of immortality, and today it is a symbol of medicine throughout the world. Behula did not leave her husband alone and accompanied him on the raft. They sailed for months and passed town after town.
The dead, decomposed body must have looked hideous. Seeing Behula constantly praying to Manasa, the villagers thought that she had gone mad. The raft finally reached the place where Neta, a helper of Manasa, worked as a laundress. When she heard Behula’s repetitive prayers to Manasa, she Neta used her magical powers and channeled a communication with Manasa. Behula also participated in it. Manasa’s only requirement to bring Lakhindar back to life was Behula’s agreement to cooperate with his continued conversion of Chand. When Behula agreed, Lakhindar’s decomposing corpse suddenly underwent a complete rebirth, and Lakhindar came back to life.
Behula then told Chand all about Manasa and Lakhindar. Chand could do nothing but agree to worship Manasa. However, when he visited her shrine, he refused to look at her idol’s face. This gesture made Manasa so happy that she resurrected all of Chand’s children and restored her fortunes. The Mangal kavyas say that the worship of Manasa became even more popular after this. Chand worshiped her with her left hand only because he couldn’t forgive her for the pain she inflicted on him. However, Manasa didn’t hold anything against him for that.
Chand lived in Champak Nagar (now located in the state of Assam in India), where you can find several ancient ruins. Some of them date back to the 6th or 7th century AD. Inscriptions on them indicate that they may be associated with the Behula story.
Dhubri in Assam is a place where Neta lived, the second half of Manasa.
The above story is one of the most impressive love stories that is unparalleled in the world’s cultural heritage. I have a Christian friend who told me that love is stronger than death. I also think this is so. As you can see from Behula’s story above, love really means a resurrection.
