Goddess Manasa – A baby girl created from psyche of Shiva

Manasa – Sister of Vasuki snake

Vasuki, the snake on the neck of Shiva, was sad. He wanted a sister like Shiva’s own children Ganesh, Kartikeya and Ashok Sundari, so that Patal Loka will be blessed too. He requested Shiva to bless him with a sister. Mahadev warned him that he won’t be able to handle the energy of the baby originated from Him. But he assured Shiva that he can do anything for a sister. So Mahadev created a baby from his psyche. Her name was Manasa.

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How Manasa became a goddess

As expected, Vasuki wasn’t able to handle the heat of the energies of Manasa, so he went to Mahadev. Shiva guided him to go to the rishi halahal in patal loka as he could bear the energies of Manasa and will raise her.

Halahal was a devotee of Shiva and he wanted to get free from this world with the help of energies of Shiva. Manasa was generated from the energy of Shiva, so it was a medium for Halahal to fulfill his wish and get free from this world.

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One day some kids teased Manasa and one of them died from her energies. Rishi Halahal took the blame on himself and crowd beat him. Watching this, Manasa got furious and her energies raised at very high level. To save the destruction, Rishi Halahal consumed her energies and failed to tolerate it. This way Halahal got freedom from life through energy of Shiva.

Unaware of the facts, Manasa started considering Mahadev her enemy since He didn’t come to save rishi Halahal.

Birth of Usha and Aniruddh

Usha, wife of Aniruddh, took birth again as Behula. Shiva blessed Behula with long life of her husband. Aniruddh took birth as the son of Chandradhar. His name was Lakshmichandra in this birth. Chandradhar was an ardent devotee of Shiva.

Read the Story of Usha and Aniruddh and How Banasur became the Son of Shiva.

Manasa wanted to be worshiped like other Gods. She wanted rights to be prayed like Ganesh and Kartikeya because like them she was also the part of Shiva.

Mahadev tried to convince her but she had no regards for her father or any other deities. So, Mahadev agreed to give her position of a goddess but she first needed to convert any one of the devotee of Shiva to her devotee. She agreed and went to search some great devotee of Shiva and not some ordinary one. Although Mahadev gave her option to choose any of his devotee, be it great one or ordinary one.

Manasa found Chandradhar and tried to convert him as her devotee but he refused. She tried to lure him with wealth but Chandradhar was firm at his decision. She threatened him that she will kill his sons if he won’t accept her lordship. He still refused so she killed all his sons except Lakshmichandra who wasn’t present there.

Lakshmichandra married with Behula. Due to the boon on Behula, Lakshmichandra was free from the terror of Manasa.

Manasa Poisoned Lakshmichandra

Manasa attacked Lakshmichandra but couldn’t kill him. So she poisoned him so badly that he went into deep unconsciousness. Behula requested Chandradhar to worship Manasa and save her husband but Chandradhar refused. Shiva came in the dreams of Chandradhar and asked him to worship Manasa to save Lakshmichandra because only Manasa could revive him.

Chandradhar knew that worshiping Shiva doesn’t require any proof so he agreed to pray Manasa. The next day he prayed and asked her to revive Lakshmichandra. She was happy and tried to revive but failed. Then Shiva appeared and enlightened Manasa about the true devotion and duties of God.

Redemption of Manasa

Manasa realized her mistakes and apologized to Shiva and Chandradhar. She understood the real values of being a God. Embarrassed with her deeds, Manasa asked Shiva to give her power to revive Lakshmichandra. Shiva assured her that she already have all the powers, just her arrogance was hiding them. She tried again to revive Lakshmichandra and succeeded.

Manasa was embarrassed with guilt feelings of killing 6 sons of Chandradhar, so Shiva revived all of them. Also he declared Manasa to be a goddess. He blessed Manasa with knowledge of life saving mantras. Those who will pray Manasa, will get free from all kinds of poisons.

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References & Sources

Sudarshana Baruaha – Sukananni Ojapali

Folk Theatre on the Modern Stage: Manasa – Death Dealer/ Life Giver