Manasa
Manasa ( Bengali মনসা manasā ; Sanskrit : “the intention”, “the born of the mind”) is a Hindu folk ( gramadevata ) and snake goddess and goddess of fertility, wedding rites and prosperity, especially revered in Bengal . Above all, she is regarded as the protective goddess against snake bites and infectious diseases, as well as the protective goddess of snake charmers . Children are also under their special protection. Her Buddhist equivalent is the snake goddess Janguli . She is counted among the Nagas . Manasa is the sister of Sesha ( Ananta ) and Vasuki . She is considered either the daughter of Kashyapa and Kadru or the illegitimate daughter of Shiva . It is said to have arisen from the mind ( mana ) of Kashyapa. With this she can control reptiles and snakes. The goddess has a double essence: if she is angry, she can punish her with snakebites, but she can also heal people from them or protect them from them. Therefore one of her nicknames is also Vishahara ("poison remover "). According to the Mahabharata , she also healed the great god Shiva ( Nilakantha ) after he had swallowed the poison of Vasuki after the whirling of the milk ocean , so that his throat turned blue . To do this, she sucked in the poison and spat it on the poisonous reptiles. Her other nicknames are among others: Nagini ("female snake"), Nagesvari ("queen of snakes"), Astikamata ("mother of Astika"), Janguli ("poison connoisseur"), Jagatgauri ("beauty of the world"), Patma ("Lotus"), Patmavati ("the lotus-born"), Nitya ("the Eternal") Nagamata ("mother of snakes"), Shaivi , Vaishnavi , Nagabhogini , Yogeshvari ("mistress of yoga") and Siddhayogini . The left blind eye ( bisdristi ) of the goddess is the "evil", poisonous one, with which she can kill through her evil eye , while she uses the right nectar eye ( amritanayan ) for healing. Blind people will be in India often an evil eye or evil eye reputed and they are considered fatal disease oracle . Manasa is kind and loving to those who worship her and harsh and merciless to those who refuse to worship her. In terms of text, Manasa is mainly represented in the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Manasa- Mangal-Kabya , which originated in Bengal between the 13th and 18th centuries . But it probably goes back to an older oral tradition.
iconography
Manasa appears in depictions mostly as a young, sensual woman adorned with jewels with a crown made up of seven cobras. Her mount ( vahana ) is the snake, occasionally also a swan ( hamsa ). She is sitting on a lotus . Her attributes are a water pot and a snake, a rosary and a manuscript. She is yellowish in color and wears a red dress. The goddess is sometimes imagined as one-eyed. Occasionally she also carries her son Astika in her arms.
In addition, there is also the image of an old, ugly, terrible, terrifying, limping goddess with a fish-like face and "witch-like" appearance.
mythology
Manasa is a confident, sensual, unhappy, disgruntled and suffering goddess.
Manasa, Shiva and Chandi
Her most famous myth tells of her birth and the rejection and humiliation by her jealous stepmother Chandi , a manifestation of the Parvati that she hated: Manasa was inadvertently conceived by the god Shiva. One day some of its seeds landed on the statue of a young girl that Vasuki's mother had carved. From this the goddess Manasa was born. Shiva initially desired her, but when he found out from her that she was his daughter, the goddess took her in and hid her in a flower basket, but his wife Chandi, whom Manasa thought was a concubine of her husband, found out, don't accept her stepdaughter, beat her and tried to torment her wherever she could. One day, Chandi Manasa even burned one eye. Once, when Chandi kicked Manasa repeatedly, Manasa glanced at her from her poisonous eye, knocking her out. Then Manasa had to leave Shiva because living together was not possible. The sad Shiva abandoned Manasa in a deserted place and created a companion, friend, counselor and sister named Netu or Neta for her out of his tears of repentance.
But Chandi was still not satisfied, and so she continued to make life difficult for Manasa. The goddess advised Manasa to wear snakes on her wedding night with the sage Jaladkaru . Chandi then threw a frog into Manasa's bedchamber, driving the snakes crazy. Jaladkaru was so frightened that he left Manasa and ran away from her. According to some traditions, however, he returned to her later. From him she gave birth to her son Astika .
Manasa, Chand and Behula
But even after that, the goddess still had a hard time because she did not have enough admirers. So she worked to increase her followers. But one man in particular, the rich widowed merchant Chand Sadagar from Champaka Nagar , vehemently refused to worship her. To enforce her cult, she specifically had to convince him to worship her. (One day in a previous life, Chand saw Manasa naked and was cursed by her to be born again and to endure much suffering. He in turn cursed Manasa that she would never find a suitor before convincing him to worship her. ) But he was a loyal admirer of Shiva and Chandi, who gave him the ability to create plants and fruit trees through magic, and was not ready to turn away from them for Manasa. She then appeared to him in the form of a beautiful young girl, with whom he instantly fell in love. She agreed to marry him, but only on condition that he give her his magical abilities. As soon as he did that, she destroyed his beautiful orchard, which he could not restore afterwards. But Chand still did not worship Manasa even when she revealed herself to him in her divine appearance. Manasa swore to atone for his disregard and took the form of a serpent to kill Chanda's six sons. It ruined his business by sinking his ships laden with precious treasures, abandoning him on a strange beach and leaving him in despair. He found refuge for a while with his old friend Chandraketu , but when he found out that he was worshiping Manasa, he left him immediately and threw away the clothes that he had given him earlier. After that, Chand begged for something to eat and went down to the river to take a bath. While he was bathing, Manasa sent him a large mouse that ate his rice so that he had nothing to eat. But he found some raw plantains that children had left lying on the river bank. After that he worked in a brahmin family as a mower and thresher, but Manasa twisted his head so that he became completely stupid and the brahmin family refused him.
After much hardship, Chand finally returned home and gradually rebuilt his life. Manasa had two friends in heaven, Apsaras , who were trying to figure out how Manasa could win Chand Sadagar over. One was born Lakshmindra , Chands son, the other daughter of Saha , a merchant from Nichhani Nagar and friend of Chand Sadagar. When Lakshmindra reached adulthood, he was engaged to a girl named Behula. As was customary before marriage, an astrologer was interviewed and predicted that Lakshmindra would die of a snakebite on the wedding night. Chand immediately had a steel house built where his son would live in peace with his bride. No crack should be so big that a pencil could get into it. He had men armed with swords, mongoose and peacocks guard it. But Manasa so intimidated the builder that he left an opening no wider than a hair in the wall and hid it with a small powdered piece of charcoal. A dozen snakes crawled in through this gap, but Behula each handed a plate of milk. But when she finally fell asleep, a snake slipped in and killed the bridegroom.
Behula did not burn Lakshmindra, but put him on a raft , as is customary with deaths from snakebites in India , sit down next to him and ride with him down the river, praying constantly to Manasa. After six months she met Netu, the washerwoman of the gods and sister of Manasa, on a river bank. She noticed immediately, by the aura above her head, that Netu could not be an ordinary mortal. A handsome young boy played next to her and ruined her work. Suddenly she saw how she kept beating him and strangling him, laying the corpse next to her and continuing to work. When the sun went down and the work was done, she poured a few drops of water from a jug over him, bringing him back to life. The boy had a smile on his face as if he had just slept. Behula landed on the bank, fell at Netu's feet, and asked her to lend her the jug to revive Lakshmindra. This led Behula to heaven. There she performed a dance for the gods, which the gods liked so much that they convinced Manasa to bring Lakshmindra back to life. This finally agreed, but only on the condition that Behula would convert Chand. Behula promised, and Lakshmindra was brought back to life.
Behula and Lakshmindra went home, and after a long time they came to their father's house and stopped to visit their father and mother. But they did not stay and went to Champaka Nagar that same day. The first people she met were her own sisters-in-law, who had come to the riverside to draw water. Behula had disguised herself as a poor sweeper, and she had a beautiful fan on which she had depicted every member of the Chand family. She showed the fan to her sisters and said that she was Behula, a sweeper and daughter of Saha , a sweeper, and wife of Lakshmindra, son of the sweeper Chand. The sisters-in-law ran home to show the fan. Sanaka was very surprised, but she thought of the lamp in the steel house. She ran to the wedding chamber, but the door was locked tightly for a year. Then she went to the river bank and met Behula and her son Lakshmindra there. Behula said that she would not return home until Chand was converted.
In the end, at the insistence of his stepdaughter Behula , he sacrificed a flower to her, although he did not look at her and used his unclean left hand. Manasa accepted this gesture and brought back Chanda Lakshmindra and his other six sons and his property (ships and orchard) and brought him and his family luck from then on. Henceforth Manasa was revered all over India.
This story clearly shows how Manasa found entry into the official pantheon from an originally subordinate Hindu folk goddess . Her relationship to Chandi also takes up cultural and social realities and relationships in which the relationship with the stepmother is very ambivalent and often tense. The difficult relationship between the daughter and the father and husband is also discussed. Furthermore, the story is about many strong and self-confident female characters such as Manasa and Behula. They embody matriarchy while Chand Sadagar and Shiva embody patriarchy. It is also thanks to the clever work of a woman that Chand gives in and turns to Manasa. So it ultimately brings about the positive outcome of the action. Behula embodies the ideal of the devoted wife, similar to Sita in Ramayana .
The myth also illustrates the original tensions between the Shiva cult and the goddess cult and shows how Manasa was gradually integrated into the Shivaite pantheon. The myths about Manasa often have erotic references.
Dhyana of Manasa
Manasa's most famous dhyana , which gives information about her essential properties and which is recited when she is worshiped, is the following:
" I adore the goddess, the mother of snakes, whose face is like the moon, who has a graceful appearance, the generous one who rides a swan, the noble one who wears a red robe, who always gives all imaginable blessings, who has a smiling face, which is adorned with gold, precious stones and many other wonderful jewels made of snakes, which is accompanied by eight serpents, who has wonderful breasts, which is a yogini and which can take any shape she wants. "
Ritual and worship
Manasa is especially revered during the rainy season, when snakes crawl out of their holes, which increases the risk of snakebites. She is especially worshiped during the Naga Panchami festival in July or August. Then snakes, believed to be their embodiment, are poured milk into their burrows and fed bananas. Manasa is mostly not worshiped in a statue, but in the form of a branch, a red painted stone or a sacred pot ( Manasar-bari ) filled with water. During this celebration, the villagers gather and offer garlands, clamshell bangles, iron bangles, red-edged saris , incense and food offerings such as mangoes, melons, bananas and sweets.
In Bengal, hot food ( acanthine ) is not prepared on their feast day , and pots of rice are left open on the window sills to ferment. It is believed that the goddess protects this food that is eaten the next day from spoiling. The women of the house draw alpanas (ritual drawings) for the goddess on the ground with rice paste, and a sij plant is placed in the oven. The cold rice, after being soaked in cold water, is eaten with cold vegetables ( panta bhat ). After that, tea is heated over a small flame to end the day and the ceremony.
Manasa is sacred to the Sij tree , a kind of cactus with healing effects, which is often also considered to be their place of residence. This plays a major role in ritual acts that often take place under this tree. Manasa must be appeased in the rituals addressed to them . In some regions, the goddess is sometimes offered bloody male animal sacrifices , so-called balis , for example geese or goats that are beheaded in front of her shrine. She is mainly worshiped by the lower castes . Women also ask for offspring in this ritual, especially sons. She is also called upon for rain and, in general, for the fulfillment of worldly desires. To this day Manasa is the only Hindu goddess whose rituals are performed exclusively with the left, unclean hand. She is especially admired by women. Their rituals often take place on river banks.
Their puja is performed outdoors by the Bauris , a low caste of agricultural workers, on an earthen shrine. Bamboo tubes are placed in every corner of the altar and tied with cotton thread . The altar is painted with vermilion , the red powder paint for blessing points, as is the red pot on which a mango branch has been placed. In addition to other offerings, such as milk, plane trees, incense, sandalwood paste, burning lights, and rice, a Sij branch is also placed on the altar. Like a woman, he is wrapped in a sari, since he embodies the goddess herself. The blood of the slaughtered sacrificial animal is offered to the goddess as a sacrifice.
In her honor, the famous snake charmer ( Jhanpan ) performances take place every year. Large plays, dances, musicals and live shows with live poisonous snakes, some of which are also placed on their altar, are performed in honor of the Manasa. Popular stories from the Mangalkavyas are re-enacted in the shows . Some believers also pierce their bodies with metal to appease the goddess.
literature
- Sabita Baishya Baruah: Manasa: The Indian Serpent Goddess: Linguistic and Literary Aspects of Assamese Manasakavya and Bengali Manasamangal. A Comparative Study. Lap Lambert Academic Publishing
- Thomas Welbourne Clark: Evolution of Hinduism in Medieval Bengali Literature: Śiva, Caṇḍī, Manasā. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , University of London, Vol. 17 No. 3 (1955), pp. 503-518
- Edward C. Dimock, Jr: Manasā, goddess of snakes: the Sasthī myth. In: Myths and symbols; studies in honor of Mircea Eliade. University of Chicago Press 1969, ISBN 0-226-43827-9
- Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa. Kolkata 1966
- WL Smith: The one-eyed goddess: a study of the Manasā maṅgal . Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1980
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ a b c Jan Knappert, Lexicon of Indian Mythology , Heyne Verlag Munich, 1994, ISBN 3-453-07817-9 , pages 202-203: Manasa
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ^ A b Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Munich 1999, ISBN 3-8289-4154-0 , page 309: Manasa
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ↑ , Jan Knappert, Lexikon der Indian Mythologie , Heyne Verlag Munich, 1994, ISBN 3-453-07817-9 , pages 202-203: Manasa
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger, Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie , Knaur 1999, Manasa
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ a b c d e f g Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ^ Jan Knappert, Lexikon der Indian Mythologie , Heyne Verlag Munich, 1994, ISBN 3-453-07817-9 , page 64: Behula
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966
- ↑ Maity Pradyot Kumar: Historical Studies in the Cult of the Goddess Manasa, Kolkata 1966, p. 270