The Triumph of the Snake Goddess

Kaiser Haq

• Editorial: Harvard University Press
• Año: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780674915114
• Categoría: Teología y religión
• Categoría: Religiones asiáticas

Snakes exist in the myths of most societies, often embodying magical, mysterious forces. Snake cults were especially important in eastern India and Bangladesh, where for centuries worshippers of the indigenous snake goddess Manasa resisted the competing religious influences of Indo-Europeans and Muslims. The result was a corpus of verse texts narrating Manasa's struggle to win universal adoration. The Triumph of the Snake Goddess is the first comprehensive retelling of this epic tale in modern English. Scholar and poet Kaiser Haq offers a composite prose translation of Manasa's story, based on five extant versions. Following the tradition of mangalkavyas —Bengali verse narratives celebrating the deeds of deities in order to win their blessings—the tale opens with a creation myth and a synopsis of Indian mythology, zooming in on Manasa, the miraculous child of the god Shiva. Manasa easily wins the allegiance of everyone except the wealthy merchant Chand, who holds fast in his devotion to Shiva despite seeing his sons massacred. A celestial couple is incarnated on earth to fulfill Manasa's design: Behula, wife to one of Chand's slain sons, undertakes a harrowing odyssey to restore him to life with Manasa's help, ultimately persuading Chand to bow to the snake goddess.A prologue by Haq explores the Bengali oral, poetic, and manuscript traditions behind this Hindu folk epic—a vibrant part of popular Bengali culture, Hindu and Muslim, to this day—and an introduction by Wendy Doniger examines the history and significance of snake worship in classical Sanskrit texts.

PART ONE

IN THE DIVINE REALM

CREATION

STRANGE AND MARVELOUS is the story of creation.

In the beginning formlessness reigned everywhere. There was neither heaven, nor earth, nor underworld; no land, water, wind, fire, sky. There were no men, women, or animals; nor any supernatural beings, divine or demonic. Only the supreme spirit, Niranjan, radiant and immaculate, extended everywhere as pure consciousness.

A time came when Niranjan was filled with a desire to create. At once the immaculate spirit split into two, the masculine Purusa, and nature’s feminine principle, Prakriti. Ever since, Purusa and Prakriti have engaged in ceaseless play. They engendered the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva; each with a Shakti, a powerful goddess, as consort. Brahma became the creator of the universe, Vishnu its preserver, and Shiva its periodic terminator. Each god and goddess also has numerous other names by which their adoring votaries address them.

Brahma set his mind to creation and promptly brought forth a cosmic egg. Focusing his yogic powers, he produced from it the all-encompassing waters of a cosmic ocean. Vishnu observed it with delight and, setting himself adrift on a banyan leaf, went into a profound yogic trance. Brahma took up residence in Vishnu’s lotus-like navel. Vishnu’s divine consort, Lakshmi, waited devotedly at his feet. Shiva lodged in Vishnu’s body in the form of wrath, while his consort Durga took the form of a tiny birthmark. Vishnu went deeper into his yogic trance. A century went by.

Suddenly, two gigantic demons named Madhu and Kaitabha were born out of Vishnu’s earwax. Formidably endowed with supernatural strength, and drunk with vainglory, they bellowed so loudly that Vishnu’s trance was disturbed. The demons leapt high into the air and with ear-splitting roars threatened to gobble up Brahma. Seeing their gaping mouths, Brahma shrank in terror, curling up more tightly inside Vishnu’s navel.

Brahma pondered the problem at hand and began meditating to call upon the great cosmic feminine force, Mahamaya, for assistance. “Mistress of this illusory universe,” said Brahma with palms joined in supplication, “you are the primordial goddess, radiant is your form, and you possess all yogic powers. You can satisfy all we hunger and thirst for, you are the goddess of all creation, the guarantor of peace, the mistress of all divine powers. I beseech you to save us from the demons endowed with supernatural strength that threaten to devour us. Vishnu still dozes in a yogic trance. Awake him and save us by destroying the demons.”

Pleased with Brahma’s invocation, Mahamaya immediately woke up Vishnu. Now Brahma appealed to the awakened god. “Two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, have come into being and are on a rampage. Save us from their wrath.”

The demons became doubly inflamed when they saw that Vishnu had woken up, and rushed at him with incredible ferocity. The god met them head-on with resolute force. It was two against one. The battle raged for ten thousand years, and still there was no resolution. The limbs of the three combatants flailed and tangled as they fought amid the watery expanse and up in the air.

The demons had come out of Vishnu, shaped by Vishnu’s divine power, and hence were invincible. The god thought of an appropriate stratagem and passed on whispered instructions to Mahamaya. She should pour such enchantment into the demons’ ears that they would unconsciously wish for death at the hands of the god. Mahamaya entered the very souls of the demons and implanted the fatal wish. At once Madhu and Kaitabha felt impelled to address Vishnu in these words: “We are profoundly impressed by your prowess, for you have single-handedly fought the two of us for ten thousand years, and would like to grant you a boon. We will grant your wish, whatever it is.”

“Very well,” responded Vishnu. “If you are really serious, my wish is that you will suffer death at my hands.”

Taken aback, the demons looked this way and that. There was nothing around but water, stretching endlessly in all directions. They had a sudden inspiration. “Your wish must be granted, for we cannot go back on our word. But there is a condition. You must kill us where there is no water.”

With a moment’s pause to consider the problem the god Vishnu stretched out a thigh till it reached stupendous proportions and, pinning down the demons on it, swiftly decapitated them with one of his favored weapons, a whirling circular blade. The bodies of the demons slid off and fell into the water. Half of them remained sunken, while the other half stood above the water and was shaped by Brahma into the land on Mother Earth. The demons’ bodies were unbelievably rich in fat. It is therefore no surprise that “the fat of the land” should mean the best of everything.

Vishnu mentioned to Brahma the earliest of the numerous incarnations he would assume to fulfill the role of world preserver. First, taking on the form of a fish he would dive into the ocean depths to fish out the four holy Vedas. Next, incarnating himself as a turtle he would carry the earth and its inhabitants on his back. Then he would appear on earth as a boar. He enjoined Brahma to get on in the meanwhile with the business of creation and set off on his quest for the holy Vedas.

Brahma sat down in a yoga posture to contemplate the creation of nature, using his yogic powers to envisage the world’s geographical features as well as the configuration of the heavenly bodies. Employing the magical force of yoga, he caused Mount Sumeru to rise, piercing the sky to reach dizzying heights, while the ocean depths were prepared as the dwelling of tortoises and other marine creatures. He demarcated seven heavenly and seven earthly realms; and seven vast regions on Mother Earth. In the ocean’s center he created an island rich in jambu trees and surrounded it with six other islands. He installed the sun and moon in the sky, the sea god Varuna and the wind god Pavana; the stars that glitter in the dark, and Agni the fire god; and devised day and night, the twelve months of the year, and the six seasons. Mountains, hills, grasslands, rivers and streams, virgin forests, and woodlands decked with myriad blossoms were laid out. In short, all of nature with the exception of living creatures was brought into existence.

Brahma set to thinking of ways to create living beings. He appealed to Vishnu to fashion humankind. Vishnu meditated to call up his yogic powers to create a number of beings modeled on his own form, carrying like him the four distinguishing items: a conch, a discus, a mace, and a lotus. But Brahma deemed these creatures to be useless. He didn’t want anybody like Vishnu. Vishnu abashedly withdrew into himself the ones he had made.

Now Shiva sat in meditation and brought forth the Rudras, one by one. They were massive in size and incredibly fierce-looking, and like their maker had ruddy-brown matted hair and bodies smeared with ash. “Oh no, these are no good,” interjected Brahma. “Their wild behavior will spell ruin for the universe.” Shamed by these words, Shiva at once ceased producing the terrible giants.

Brahma himself now got down to creating humankind, and presently brought forth Sanaka and the Seven Sages: Marichi, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasistha. At once all eight holy men, offspring of the Lord Brahma’s consciousness, embarked on spiritual exercises.

“My sons,” Brahma appealed to them, “listen to your father and devote yourselves to worldly responsibilities.”

“Impossible, Father!” all eight replied in one voice. “We cannot become involved in the affairs of this inane and unsubstantial world. We will spend our time in the practice of holy rites and yogic austerities. We beg you not to create problems by making absurd demands.”

With these words the sages took their leave, and setting up ashrams deep in the forests applied themselves to Yoga.

“What a fix I am in,” sighed Lord Brahma. “Whoever I have created wants to abandon creation.”

In his distress Brahma turned to Vishnu and Shiva and loudly lamented his plight. “This business of creation threatens to put an end to life. Whoever I create turns away from worldly responsibilities. Tell me what I can do now. Asked to be creative, I was pleased to try to build up a world, but no matter how hard I labored, the slightest slip rendered it impossible to multiply the number of living creatures. Who can I confide in or ask for advice, except you two?”

The great god Shiva offered his counsel. “Pray to the divine mistress of this illusory world, the goddess Durga, and the task of creation will resume apace. The grand design that was conceived will then be realized. Everyone knows that the world of samsara is maya, illusory. It is impossible to get on without the help of Mahamaya, its divine mistress Durga. The festival for worshipping her is in sharat, the season after the monsoon, when the moon waxes in the month of Aswin; offering puja to her is the sure way to have one’s desires fulfilled. Therefore fashion her image in clay, complete with her ten arms, adding the eyes on the first of the ten puja days, and begin the tradition of worshipping her according to the correct procedure. On the sixth day the goddess arrives on earth with her children and is ceremonially awakened in the evening through rites involving the offering of the bel fruit. The night is spent in festivity. The seventh, eighth, and ninth days are spent in fervent worship, and on the tenth day the goddess and her divine children are bidden a sad farewell by immersing their clay images in a river or lake.”

The next morning, after a ritual bath, Brahma sat in a yogic posture, while Shiva sat beside him with a leaf of instructions in his hand, so that the puja could begin. A charming image of the ten-armed Durga had been shaped in clay and installed on a magnificent pavilion; all preliminary arrangements had been made. Punctiliously following instructions, Brahma fulfilled all sixteen requirements of the puja rituals and then sat before the idol clapping his hands in satisfaction.

Just then Shiva struck a warning note. “Listen carefully,” he began. “The puja will remain incomplete without a blood sacrifice. A living being, beheaded in a single stroke, has to be offered to the goddess. Unfortunately, the world in its present state does not have any goats or buffaloes, which would be the most suitable animals for the sacrifice. But without a sacrifice, let me warn you, the purpose of the puja will not be realized.”

These words plunged Brahma into profound anxiety. He cried out to Shiva and Vishnu for help; he wept in despair, for who could rescue him from such dire straits? “I rushed in at Shiva’s behest, but the desire to do good has backfired. I have worshipped the goddess with all my heart, only to find that the puja has been to no avail.”

“Now, now,” said Shiva on hearing his lament, “pay attention and do not be distressed at what I am going to say. There are always hundreds of impediments to the performance of a pious deed. But in your predicament there is no alternative to self-sacrifice. You must chop off your own head and offer it to the goddess. You can be sure that she will in return always look after your welfare. If the laws of dharma in the holy Vedas have any truth in them, you may rest assured that you run no risk in doing as I say.”

Reassured by Shiva’s words, Brahma agreed to decapitate himself. Washing his head with water from a consecrated pot, he declared that he would gladly make an offering of it to the goddess; then making obeisance to the huge sacrificial falchion raised it and uttering fervent mantras and crying out, “Have it, it’s yours, Mother of the Universe,” struck himself above the shoulder, sending the head rolling down to her feet.

At once another head sprouted from Brahma’s shoulders, a sight that immensely pleased Shiva and Vishnu. “Of infinite grace is the goddess Mahamaya, and whoever receives her mercy is truly blessed,” declared an ecstatic Brahma, plunging forward to lie prone at her feet in a complete pranam. Then rising he circled her clockwise to complete the puja. He stayed awake through a night of music and songs, he gave a word-perfect recitation of hymns in praise of Chandi, which is another name for Durga or Mahamaya. Still the goddess did not reveal herself to Brahma, much to his dismay.

A distraught Brahma turned to Shiva and Vishnu and lamented: “What shall I do now? All my efforts have come to nothing, for the Mother of the Universe has denied me her boon. What is left for me to do in life, except put a quick end to my existence? My mind is in turmoil. The sin of killing Brahma will be laid on her head.”

With these words Brahma picked up the falchion with the intention of thrusting it into his heart. Chanting Durga’s name he held the tip of the weapon at his breast, ready to be thrust in. Just then Durga appeared in all her glory. Alarmed at the thought that she would be accused of killing Brahma, she promptly decided to reveal herself. A grateful Brahma abased himself before her, lying prone at her feet.

“Lord Brahma,” said the goddess, “rest assured that all earthly sorrows will be removed through my kindness.”

She picked up three heads that were lying about the place and installed them on Brahma’s shoulders, and ever since he has had a face pointing in each of the four directions. He is lord of the four objects of desire: dharma, artha, kama, moksha, righteousness, wealth, sensual pleasure, spiritual liberation. Delighted at this turn of events, with palms joined in salutation Brahma sang praises of the goddess, highlighting her beauty, might, mercy, charity, which made her the mother of the universe, who could build, preserve, destroy, as she pleased. “The burden of my respons...