page_title: Manasa
section_title: Myths and Legends
hierarchical_section_title: Manasa / Myths and Legends
caption_attribution_description: English: "Album of popular prints mounted on cloth pages. Colour lithograph, lettered, inscribed and numbered 33. The goddess Manasā in a dense jungle landscape with snakes, seated on a swan and with her left foot resting on a lotus flower."
context_page_description: Manasa also known as Manasa Devi is the Hindu goddess of snakes and poison. She is mainly worshiped by Hindus for the prevention and cure of snakebites and infectious diseases like smallpox and chicken pox as well as for prosperity and fertility. She is also known as Vishahara, Jagadgaurī, Nityā and Padmavati. She stands for both 'destruction' and 'regeneration', almost akin to a snake shedding its skin and being reborn.
context_section_description: Her myths are emphasize by her bad temper and unhappiness because in many beliefs, her father, Shiva, rejected her and her step-mother Chandi hated her. In some scriptures, Kashyapa is considered to be her father. Her legends are based on her life.
caption: Manasa in a dense jungle.
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