Manasa Devi: Nagas

Manasa Devi

मनसादेवी

Nagas

Nagas are the serpent people of India. Nagas are either a group of ancient people, or divine beings that dwell in underground premises of our Earth. Chief Nagas have helpers. A female Naga is called Nagini. King of the Nagas is Vasuki. There are legends about Nagas in the folklore of present tribal Hindus of Southern India (Adivasis) and the aboriginals of Australia. In these legends, the Nagas inhabited a big continent that existed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It sank and the remnants of it formed the Indonesian archipelago and Australia.

Nag Panchami is a festival for celebration of the Nagas (both deities and cobras) on the fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana (beginning in late July and ending in the third week of August).

White Cobra - The Symbol Of Magic And Power

If you start looking for particular information on white cobra, you will not find much. This article will focus on white cobra in connection to Hinduism, but it will exclude the "new agey" thinking of this modern age, although people who are interested in esoteric knowledge are familiar with the opinion that the Atlantean civilization consisted of two races - the blacks and the whites. The article also mentions Naga Mani, cobra pearls, and concludes with an opinion that milk is a symbol of love and universal divine feminine.

I found a few websites of a good reputation that will assure you that white cobra is really a sacred term. The Hindus know this type of cobra as Shweta Nag. It lives in the jungles of India, particularly in the Vindhya region. It surely inhabits other places in Asia, but like I said, it is difficult to find more information on this type of cobra. This deadly white cobra is mentioned in a text called Naga Shastra, the original of which is difficult to find. This cobra does not harm devotees of Lord Shiva and you can find it in the jungles, but rarely. If you plan to have it in your home zoo, it is too expensive to buy. Naga Shastra contains weird and secret mantras like Kaadi and Haadi Vidhya mantras. The word Naga is derived from Sanskrit; it is pronounced with accent (like the English word "are" - "Naaga"), and it means cobra. The term Shastra denotes a sacred book in the Hindu religion.

We humans do not control the caliber of nature, and nature sometimes also inexplicably treats us. This means that you may also meet with an albino cobra, which is not a Shweta Nag, but a black cobra that became white at the whim of nature.

You will often see a cobra around the Lord Shiva's and Kali's neck. The name of this cobra is Vasuki, but it may also be Manasa, the Vasuki's sister. Manasa is the daughter of Lord Shiva. Naga worship was very popular in India and it has preserved until today, but it is not so widespread as it had been in the pre-Vedic, Vedic and post-Vedic times. Now it is common in a few communities like Sourashtra community of Tamil Nadu and also in rural Bengal, where Manasa Devi, a cobra queen, is very famous.

The Devi Bhagavatam Purana (Chapter 48, Book 9) says: "I meditate on the Devi Manasa, whose color is fair like that of the white Champaka flower..."

The colors of Nagas, the divine serpents, are five. The color of Manasa and Neta (a Manasa's sister) is pearl white. The white divine serpents are: Vasuki, Mahapadma, Manasa, Neta. The others like Kulika (he is black) or Padma (he is of rosy lotus color) have different colors. Shesha, a thousand-headed Naga King that upholds the Earth in space, is a form of Lord Vishnu. The pictures of Shesha on the Internet therefore often show Shesha, in addition to white, also in yellow color.

Legends say that a white cobra guards the jewels and that it has magical powers. Some sources say that this cobra lives in pairs. Both mates are very much attached to each other. On the night, when the Full Moon is magnificently bright on the sky, the Shweta Nag pair takes a human form. This cobra's skin is of the same color as the skin of Manasa or Vasuki - the white of milk.

Naga Mani

Naga Mani are cobra pearls. Some of them illuminate in the dark. The Hindus call them "The Gems of the Underworld".�

The complex facts (such as what is the best place to find them, etc.) about Naga Mani or Sri Naga Mani are difficult to find, but these pearls are very expensive. It is not easy to source information on pearls that come from Shweta Nag either. "The white of milk" color of Manasa mentioned in the Devi Bhagavatam Purana has its deep root in legends in relation to divine serpents. The "new agey" terms such as the "White Atlantean Race" can therefore really be accepted, because milk is a symbol of love and new life. It is also a symbol of universal divine feminine.

Nagas

Nagas are both divine and human beings. There was an ancient clan that consisted of people who used the names of these divine beings, but you should not confuse the two.

Here follows a list of some most important Naga deities

Vasuki - Vasuki is King of the Nagas and Nagaraja. It is also the name of cobra around the Shiva's neck. The other name can be Manasa. The same applies to Kali on statues / pictures with a cobra around her neck.

Nagaraja - Nagaraja is a King Snake, just another name of one of the most prominent Nagas. Sarpa Yakshi and Naga Yakshi are his consorts. A few great Nagas are Nagarajas - for example, Vasuki, Takshak, and Ananta. The term Nagaraja also refers collectively to all these three snake gods. Manasa, too, is Nagaraja. The selection of Nagaraja by people depends on local traditions.

Ananta or Shesha is a couch of Lord Vishnu. Ananta holds our planet in the right direction.

Gogaji is a folk deity of Rajasthan (India). He is a warrior-hero of the region venerated as snake god.

Iggutappa, god of snakes, is an incarnation of Lord Subramani (Lord Murugan-Skanda, the younger son of Lord Shiva).

Kaliya was a poisonous and angry Naga living in the Yamuna River.

Khodiyar Maa - a divine crocodile goddess; her story started in around 700 AD and begins with a childless man - Mamaniya Gadhvi, who had a superb relationship with the then ruler - Maharaj Shilbhadra.

Ketu is the body of Rahu; they form a head and a tail of one Naga.

Manasa - Queen of the Nagas; she has a sister Neta.

Naagarajavu (god of snakes) is a deity that people adore in rural places like Chenkara, which is a small village in Alappuzha, India.

Ulupi - Arjuna married with her; this story is written in the Mahabharata