Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . ious.* 2. Man is the sister of Vasuki, king of the snakes ;the wife of Jaratkaru, a sage ; and being the queen ofthe snakes is regarded as the protectress of men fromthose reptiles. Another name by which she is knownis Vishahara, the destroyer of poison, Generally,offerings are made to her without any image being made,a branch of a tree, a pan of water, an earthen snakebeing her representative ; when her image is made,it is that of a woman clothed with snakes, sitting ona lotus, or standing upon a snake. A song foundedupon the following story con
Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . ious.* 2. Man is the sister of Vasuki, king of the snakes ;the wife of Jaratkaru, a sage ; and being the queen ofthe snakes is regarded as the protectress of men fromthose reptiles. Another name by which she is knownis Vishahara, the destroyer of poison, Generally,offerings are made to her without any image being made,a branch of a tree, a pan of water, an earthen snakebeing her representative ; when her image is made,it is that of a woman clothed with snakes, sitting ona lotus, or standing upon a snake. A song foundedupon the following story concludes the worship of thisdeity. * Ward, ii, 139. 490 MISCELLANEOUS MINOR DEITIES. A merchant named Chanda not only refused to wor-ship Manasa, but professed the profoundest contemptfor her. In process of time six of his sons died fromsnake-bites. To avoid a similar fate, his eldest sonLakindara dwelt in an iron house ; but Manasa causeda snake to enter through a crevice, which bit him onhis wedding-day and caused his death too. His. widow, however, escaped, and went weeping to hermother-in-law, who, with the neighbours, vainly triedto induce Chanda to propitiate the goddess throughwhose influence so much evil had come to the family ;Manasa herself urged his friends to prevail upon himnot to remain so hostile to her. At last heso far MAN ASA. 49* yielded to their wishes as to throw a single flower withhis left hand towards her image, which so delightedher that she restored his sons to life, and from thattime as men came to know of her power, her worshiphas become celebrated.* The Mahabharata gives the following particularsregarding her marriage. Jagatakaru, her husband,was an eminent sage, who had practised great austeri-ties, bathed in all the holy tanks, abstained from mat-rimony, and, as a result of his penance and fasting,had a dry and shrivelled body. In the course of hiswanderings, he came to a place where he saw a numberof men hanging from a tree with their heads down-w
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