Love Is a Resurrection: The Behula Story

Some details about Manasa Devi

Manasa Devi’s symbol is the sun rising over the crescent, but it is the crescent in a horizontal position: turn the letter C to the left, or just imagine a smile. In the days before the arrival of the Prophet Muhammad, people in countries that are now Islamic worshiped the moon god or goddess of the moon. Some say that this is how the symbol of the sun with the moon came to Islam, and therefore 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 called 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 too. Astika, an ancient Hindu Rishi (a sage), is Manasa’s son who she conceived with Jaratkaru. Jaratkaru was a mythological sage. That 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 moment 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 and belong to the Vedas). In Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda you will also find references to snake worship.

Manasa Devi sometimes descends to Earth to get devotees, as people have not always accepted her. She sometimes uses her magical powers. If she fails, she wreaks 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 Moon Goddess and the Serpent Goddess 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 (if they live in harmony with nature) been most fertile around the time of the full moon.

Manasa Devi was first of all a pre-Vedic deity and her worship was ancient in Bengal. However, the snake cult 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 the attributes of a serpent woman and her ancient symbol of the earth was a white serpent.

Christianity developed in a part of the world where there are no snakes as deadly as in Asia. Christians must 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 Queen of Cobras. Some sources say that she came to Bengal with the Dravidians who worshiped her in the hope that she would give strong sons 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 indigenous deities of rural Bengal.

Mangal kavyas are devotional Bengali poems dedicated to rural deities. Of these I can mention Dharmathakur, a popular deity. Worship of him is also based on a caste conflict, as orthodox Brahminism deprived lower castes of the right to have access to Brahminical learning.

Chand Sadagar was a wealthy merchant. When Manasa descended to Earth, he managed to convert new devotees, but 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 bankrupt.

However, the affected merchant still did not accept Manasa. He preferred to start a new life with the same attitude and became a father to Lakhindar. Due to his fear of Manasa, he took all possible measures to prevent the deadly snakes from reaching his house, but Manasa, the Serpent Goddess, was more clever. He asked two celestial 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’s. 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 husband dead from her and to accept the knowledge of who plotted this, but her love for Manasa did not weaken.

Lakhindar’s body was not cremated because of a custom that allowed relatives to send anyone who died of a snakebite downriver 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 is currently a symbol of medicine throughout the world. Behula did not leave her husband alone and accompanied him on the raft. They sailed for months, passing 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, Manasa’s helper, 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 decaying corpse suddenly underwent a full rebirth and Lakhindar was brought 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 Manasa worship 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 had nothing against him for that.

Chand lived in Champak Nagar (now situated in the Indian state of Assam), where you can find various 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, the second half of Manasa, lived.

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 believe that this is so. As you can see in Behula’s story above, love really means a resurrection.