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In this katha (story) from the Prakriti Khanda, Sri Narayana was unfolding for Narada the secret of the goddesses who are all so many forms of one and the same primal Prakriti (primordial Nature). Among them fall two names: Mangalachandi, who works every blessing, and Manasa, mother of the serpents.
Mangalachandi: The Auspicious Form of the Primal Prakriti
The goddess who is skilled beyond all others in working blessing is the same one who turns fierce and is then called Chandi, and because she is the supreme blessing among all blessings she grew renowned under the name Mangalachandika. Mangala, the son of the Earth (the planet Mars), worships her; and she was the chosen deity of King Mangala, born in the line of Manu and lord of the earth with its seven islands, and from these too her name arose. In her difference of form she is the primal Prakriti, Bhagavati Durga herself, and she is the chosen deity of women. Lord Shankara was the first of all to adore her. At the time of the terrible slaying of Tripurasura, when that demon in his fury flung Shiva’s chariot down out of the sky and Shiva fell into peril, then, on the counsel of Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva sang the praise of the goddess. It was Mangalachandi herself who had only put on another form; appearing before him she said that he had nothing left to fear, that Sri Hari himself would become his mount in the shape of a bull, and that she, in the very form of Shakti, would stand with him in the battle. With the weapon Vishnu had given him Shiva slew the demon of Tripura, and the gods bowed their heads and praised her with a rain of flowers. From that day on she was worshipped first by Shiva, then by the planet Mangala, then by King Mangala, then by noble women on the day of Mangalavara (Tuesday), and at the last by all the gods and all human beings.
Manasa, Mother of the Serpents
Long ago there came a time when every human being across the whole earth lived under siege from the fear of the serpents. They all went then for refuge to Kashyapa, greatest of sages. The frightened Kashyapa, on Brahma’s counsel, composed the Veda-seed mantras, and out of his own mind he brought forth the presiding goddess of those mantras as well; because she was born of the mind (manas), she became known by the name Manasa. While still a maiden she went up to Kailasa to worship Lord Shiva, and with devotion she served him for a thousand celestial years. Pleased with her, Shiva, quick to be won, granted her the great knowledge, the Sama Veda, the eight-syllable mantra of Sri Krishna, the Trailokyamangala kavacha (protective hymn), and the supreme Mrityunjaya knowledge that conquers death. Then, at Shiva’s command, she went to the field of Pushkara to practice tapas (austerity); through three ages (yugas) she performed austerity toward the Supreme Being, Sri Krishna, attained perfection, and won his darshan face to face. Sri Krishna, that treasury of mercy, granted the slender young maiden the boon that she would be worshipped throughout the three worlds. Krishna himself worshipped her first, then Shiva, and after them the gods, the sages, the Manus, the serpents, and human beings. Because she held the power to draw out poison she was called Vishahara, and later, for guarding the lives of the serpents at King Janamejaya’s sacrifice, she grew famous under the names Nageshvari and Nagabhagini (sister of the serpents).
The Sage Jaratkaru and the Birth of Astika
Kashyapa gave the goddess in marriage to the dispassionate sage Jaratkaru, and on Brahma’s command the sage, though empty of all desire, accepted her as his wife. After the wedding the great yogi Jaratkaru, worn out by his long years of tapas, lay down beneath a banyan tree at Pushkara and slept with his head resting on the goddess Manasa’s lap. Meanwhile the sun began to set. The devout Manasa reasoned that her husband would fall into a sin as grave as the killing of a brahmana if he let the evening sandhya (prayer) go unperformed, and so she woke him. When his sleep broke Jaratkaru was seized by a violent anger and rose ready to curse the sun; then the Sun god came to that place with the goddess Sandhya and humbly begged his pardon. The sage grew calm, yet to keep his own vow he forsook the weeping Manasa. Distraught in that calamity, the goddess called to mind her guru Shiva, her chosen deities Brahma and Sri Hari, and her father Kashyapa, and all of them appeared before her. Brahma gave the answer the hour required, saying, Sage, if you truly mean to forsake your righteous wife, first beget a son with her, for the merit of a man who abandons his beloved wife without begetting a son runs away like water. Then Jaratkaru, by the power of yoga, touched Manasa’s navel while reciting a mantra and declared that from her womb would come a son foremost among those who have mastered the senses, righteous and devoted to Vishnu, one who would deliver his whole line. Having said this, and having taught his wife the higher knowledge, the sage went away once more to his austerities. Manasa went to Kailasa, where Parvati consoled her and Shiva gave her auspicious knowledge. There, in a supremely blessed hour, the goddess gave birth to a son who was a portion of Lord Narayana and a guru of the yogis; even within the womb the child had heard the great knowledge from Shiva’s own mouth and had already become a lord of yogis. Shiva performed his jatakarma (birth-rite), taught him the four Vedas, and gave him the Mrityunjaya knowledge. Manasa held boundless faith (astha) in her husband, her chosen deity, and her guru, and from this the son took the name Astika.
The Rescue of the Serpents at the Snake Sacrifice
Elsewhere, King Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu, fell under the brahmana-curse of the rishi Shringi on account of a single wrongful deed of his own; taking up water from the Kaushiki river, the rishi cursed him that once a week had passed the serpent Takshaka would bite him. The king shut himself away inside a place so well guarded that not even the wind could find its way in. Dhanvantari, on his way to free the king of the poison, met Takshaka along the road as the serpent went to strike; the two struck up a friendship, and Takshaka gave him a jewel and sent Dhanvantari back. Then Takshaka bit the king where he sat upon his high seat, and Parikshit at once left his body and passed to the other world. After performing his father’s funeral rites, King Janamejaya began the sacrifice called the Sarpasatra, in which many serpents began to give up their lives before the fiery power of the brahmanas. The terrified Takshaka fled and hid himself in the shelter of Indra, at which the assembly of brahmanas made ready to drag in Takshaka together with Indra himself. In such a crisis all the gods went with Indra to the goddess Manasa, and the frightened Indra sang the goddess’s praise. Then, at his mother’s command, the noble sage Astika came to the sacrifice and asked King Janamejaya for the lives of both Indra and Takshaka. Maharaja Janamejaya graciously granted the boon of their lives, brought the sacrifice to its close on the word of the brahmanas, and gladly gave the priests their dakshina (fee). In this way Astika, the son of Mother Manasa, saved the serpents from the fire. After that the brahmanas, the sages, and the gods worshipped and praised the goddess Manasa; Indra too honored her with the sixteen rites of worship and, calling her worthy of reverence as his own sister and mother, received a boon. For a long age the goddess Manasa lived with her son in her father Kashyapa’s hermitage, ever honored by her brothers, and in the end she returned to the world of heaven. For this reason, whoever worships Manasa with devotion on the day of the Ashadha Sankranti and on Nagapanchami is never again touched by fear of the serpents.
Source: Shrimad Devi Bhagavata Mahapurana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)