Monday, October 24, 2016

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India

Image result for Manasa myth
Manasa, goddess of snakes, Wikipedia

Padma and reptilian animals are worshiped in the Manasa Ceremony, which falls at the beginning of the rainy season since reptiles start to infest most areas at that time.

Krisidhan was a rich farmer. He had seven wives and the youngest was Lahana. Her idea of a perfect day was to eat kol fish and then have no work to do the rest of the day. The fish turned out to be divine serpents, named Ahiraj and Maniraj. For a whole month, she fed the two snakes until food became scarce. Someone found them in the kitchen and in the store-house, so Lahana kept having to move the snakes. The two snakes went back to their mother, Manasa, and said they wanted to repay Lahana for her kindness by being her home. They came to get her by pretending to be her brothers, and along with them they brought a train of snakes carrying presents for Lahana. The cute part was that they basically forced a nearby king to be her father so that Lahana would have a home like the other wives.

The Savitri ceremony is based on a woman who technically was a princess, but made herself live in the forest to practice self-discipline. Savitri, when she was a young woman trying to find a husband, saw Satyaban and immediately fell in love. Her father tried to get Savitri interested in various princes, but she wanted this son of a hermit. However, the only problem is that Satyaban has been cursed to die within a year of marriage. Nevertheless Savitri wishes to marry him because she says that one day married to Satyaban is worth the lifetime a widow. The newlyweds are blissfully happy in the forest, though they have little of luxury. Satyaban has no clue that he has this curse on him. The day he is doomed to die, Savitri manages to convince the gods to not take her husband's life.

Bibliography: "The Divine Brothers", "Snatched from Death", "By Itu's Favor". Sacred Tales of India. Link to Reading

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