Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 15,153

Date uploaded in London –  5 November 2025

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

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Part 22

Snake Goddess Manasa Devi (manasaa)

Manasā (मनसा).—Name of a daughter of Kaśyapa, sister of the serpent king, Ananta, wife of the sage जरत्कारु (jaratkāru) and mother of the sage अस्तिक (astika); so मनसादेवी (manasādevī).

Indus Valley Seal of Sarpa Rajni (Rig Veda Poetess name in Tenth Mandala Hymn 189)

Snake Goddess is worshipped during Vedic time and in Harappan Civilization.  She is also seen in Egypt, Greece and in the Middle East.

Manasa Devi is worshipped mainly in Bengal and adjacent states of Bihar and Assam. She is another form of Parvati, wife of Shiva.

Manasa is greatly revered in Bengal , where she is believed to ward off poisonous snakes. She is the daughter of Kasyapa and Kadru and sister of Ananta or Vasuki according to local legends. Lord Vishnu lies on the snake bed in the middle of milky ocean, and he is said to rest between cosmic emanations.

Manasa stands upon or is shaded by a seven headed snake. Her symbols or attributes are snake and water jar.

She is the wife of Jarat kaaru . she is also called Jagad gauri, Nityaa (eternal) and Visha -haraa. Visha haraa means one who has the special power of counter acting the venom of serpents.

Snake worship originated in India. All the words for snakes in ancient languages are derived from Sanskrit and Tamil (Naga-S/Nake, Sarpa- Serpent),  Oviyar- Ophis, Uraga, Pannaga). All Hindu Gods and Goddesses have snakes as their ornaments. Egypt followed Hindus and we see snakes over the heads of Pharaohs. Snake and Garuda are seen with Vaishnavite Naamam symbol in Wedget/Udget .

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Stories of Manasa Devi are told in different ways in Bengal. The gist of the stories is one gentle man ignored Manasa Devi worship and he lost his children due to snake bites. Ultimately they were saved through the worship of Mansa.

From Rig Veda, Indus Valley to Sabarimalai in Kerala, we see snake worship.

The greatest wonder is Brahmins worship snakes with reverence in daily oblation Sandhyavandana with a mantra beginning with Narmadaayai Namah….

(Mandhata’s son Purukutsa married Devi Narmada and the latter was the sister of Nagaas of Rasatala. Nagaas were afraid of Gandharvas as some six crore Gandharvas resided in Rasatala tormenting Nagaas by hunting their ‘Ratnas’(jewels) from their hoods. The Nagaas prayed to Bhagavan Vishnu and the latter assured that the son of Mandhata viz. Purukutsa would destroy all the Gandharvas at the instance of Narmada Devi. As professed, Purukutsa eradicated Gandharvas and the Nagaas gave a boon to Narmada that whosoever bathed in the River or even recited the following would be safe from ‘sarpa-visha’ or the poison of serpents; the relevant Shloka or stanza to be recited states:

Narmadaayai Namah Pratarnarmadaayai Namo nishi,

Namostu Narmadey tubhyam traahi maam Visha Sarpatah

(Devi Narmada! My salutations to you in the day or night, do safeguard me from the fear of Serpents and their poisonous bites!) The full mantra includes the names of great seers Jarat kaaru, Aastika and the King Janamejaya)

The Harappan seal with a goddess surrounded by snakes on either side shows Snake Goddess was worshipped from 2000 BCE or before that, because Nagaraani is in the Vedas as well.

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Story of Manasa Devi (from old article) 

Chand was a merchant who did not believe in the Goddess Manasa devi. As a result, he lost all his sons due to snake bites. But yet he was very obstinate and never paid reverence to the Goddess. He got one more son who was the apple of his eyes. He was still obstinate in not worshipping Manasa and Manasa Devi was also relentless and she bit his son on his wedding day in spite of his precautions. His newlywed wife Vehula did not allow his body to be cremated. She was fasting till her body became a skeleton but never stopped her prayers to Manasa. She begged to Manasa for the restoration of his husband’s life. At last Manasa relented and gave his life back.

 It is the belief of many that a person supposed to be dead by a snake bite, really lives in a state of suspended animation for a long time after.

Bengalese plant a milky white plant (Euphorbia Lingularum) on these days on a raised mound of earth in the courtyards of their houses and worship Goddess Manasa Devi. They worship her to get immunity from snake bites or avoiding bitten by snakes. If anyone has died due to snake bite in the family all of them join in worship and they pour milk in the ant hills where snakes live.

Hindus, by not killing the snakes, the vital animal in the food production chain, increase the production of food grains. The snakes keep even frogs and toads in control which freely enters every home during rainy season. 

Villagers don’t fear snakes even when it enters a house; they simply trap it in a box or pot and release it in the field. They know the value of it.

Manasa Devi

The serpent worship is universal. There is no ancient culture without a serpent God. Whether it is Egyptian or Mayan, Indus or Vedic, Minoan or Babylonian we see serpents with Gods and Goddesses. But Hindus are the only race in the world who maintains this culture until today. We have Naga panchami celebrations celebrated throughout India where live snakes are worshipped. Hindus respect Nature and Environment and use the natural resources to the minimum.

Snake Goddesses such as Manasa Devi and Naga Yakshi are worshipped in India. The Vedas has an authoress named as Serpent Queen. She was one of the 27 women poets of Rig Veda and her poem is in the Tenth Mandala (10-189). Her name is SARPA RAJNI (Serpent Queen)

We have two more references to this lady in Taitriya and Aitareya Brahmanas. Sarpa Vidya (science of snakes) is mentioned in Satapatha and Gopatha Brahmanas. (see Vedic Index of name and subjects by authors AB Keith and AA Macdonell, page 438 for more details).

Aligi is the name of a kind of snake in the Atharva Veda (V-13-7) and Viligi, another snake, is also mentioned in the same hymn. Earlier scholars like AA Macdonell and AB Keith mentioned them as snakes in their Vedic Index Volumes. Bala Gangadhara Tilak did lot of research and told us that these were from the Akkadian languages. He dated the Vedas to 6000 BC. Modern research by scholars Dr Bhagawatsharan Upadhyaya and Dr Naval Viyogi showed that they were not snakes, but kings of Assyria- Aligi (Alalu) and Viligi (balalu) of 3000 BC.

Garuda with Vaishnavite Naamam on head.(left); Snake/Naaga (on left); Eye in the middle . Egyptian Symbol Wedjet

Atharva Veda in Sumeria 3000 BC

Taimata is twice mentioned in Atharva Veda (V-13-66; V-18-4) as a species of snake according to Whitney and Bloomsfield. Once again, the old Vedic translations are wrong. Actually Taimata is nothing but Tiamat found in Babylonian literature as a Goddess. May be it is the corrupted form of Sanskrit DEVA MATA (Goddess).

More research shows many Sanskrit words in Sumerian and Babylonian literature such as Berorus (Vara Ruci), Ottaretas (Urdhwaretas), Mesopotamian god Dumuzi/Tammuz/Sammata (fish God). They are pure Sanskrit words. One and the same god was called in different names by different cultures at different times and that too in corrupted forms. When we read Sumerian names we have to remove prefixes Nan, Nin,Sin. They are equal to Sri, Sow etc. Future research will prove that they have migrated from India in the remotest time.

Naga Yakshi worshipped in all the Ayyappan temples including Sabarimalai and other goddess temples found in the Middle Eastern countries around 3000BC. We see them in Indus valley and the Vedas as well.

My conclusion can be summarized as follows:

1.     Vedic translations of Aligi, Viligi and Taimata are wrong and they were all really people, may be people with snake totem (Nagas).
2. Since Atharva Veda mentions Kings who lived around 3000 BC, it must be dated around that period. Rig Veda is (linguistically) older than Atharva Veda.
3. We see snake gods or goddesses in all ancient cultures. In India, we see it from Vedic days. They are worshiped until today proving that Indian culture is the oldest living culture.
4. Last but not the least; such continuity is possible only when this worship originated in India. So we can safely conclude that Hindus went to different parts of the world taking their culture. Like we lost the whole of South East Asia after 1300 year Hindu rule, we lost the Middle East long before that.

Tamil Version follows…………..

To be continued……………………………..

Tags- Hinduism through 500 Pictures in Tamil and English; படங்கள் மூலம் இந்து மதம் கற்போம்- Part 22  , Snake Goddess, Manasa devi, Alii, Viligi, Harappan, Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Tiamath