page_title: Manasamangal Kāvya
section_title: Story
hierarchical_section_title: Manasamangal Kāvya / Story
caption_attribution_description: Preview of Manasa Mangal Mayne Chitrakar (Naya / Bengal): The exhibition "Singing Pictures, art and performance of Naya's Women" takes place at the National Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon from July 5 to December 31, 2007. L'exposition &quot;Singing Pictures, art and performance of naya's women&quot; se déroule au musée national d'ethnologie de Lisbonne du 5 juillet au 31 décembre 2007. le site du musée national d'ethnologie &lt;a href="http://www.ipmuseus.pt/pt/museus/M24362/TA.aspx"&gt;www.ipmuseus.pt/pt/museus/M24362/TA.aspx&lt;/a&gt; le site sur les peintures des femmes Naya &lt;a href="http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/naya/intro.html"&gt;learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/naya/intro.html&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: Manasamangal Kāvya is the oldest of the Mangal-Kāvya and narrates how the snake-goddess Manasa established her worship in Bengal by converting a worshipper of Shiva to her own worship. Manasa was a tribal deity that was merged into the greater folds of Hinduism, and her worship took place from ancient times in Bengal. Manasa is also known as Bisahari, Janguli and Padmavati.
context_section_description: The story of Manasamangal begins with the conflict of the merchant Chandradhar or Chand Sadagar with Manasa and ends with Chandradhar becoming an ardent devotee of Manasa. Chandradhar is a worshipper of Shiva, but Manasa hopes that she can win over Chand to her worship. But, far from worshipping her, Chand refuses to even recognize her as a deity. Manasa takes revenge upon Chand by destroying seven of his ships at sea and killing his seven sons. Finally, Behula, the newly-wed wife of Chand's youngest son Lakhindar, makes the goddess bow to her love for her husband through her strength of character, limitless courage and deep devotion. Behula succeeds in bringing Chand's seven sons back to life and rescuing their ships. Then only does Behula return home. Manasamangal is basically the tale of oppressed humanity. Chandradhar and Behula have been portrayed as two strong and determined characters at a time when ordinary human beings were subjugated and humiliated. Manasa devi Maa is prayed by one community of high caste and now is prayed by all communities. Manasa's victory over Chand suggests the victory of the indigenous or non-Aryan deity over the Aryan god. However, even Manasa is defeated by Behula. The poem thus suggests not only the victory of the non-Aryan deity over the Aryan god, but also the victory of the human spirit over the powerful goddess. Manasamangal is also remarkable for its portrayal of Behula who epitomises the best in Indian womanhood, especially the Bengali woman's devotion to her husband.
caption: Behula sails with her dead husband, scene from Manasa Mangal
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