Staff Pick
I began researching Manasa Devi about two years ago and quickly became fascinated by her mythology. She is in many ways a deity that humans can relate to, especially in regards to her relationship with her father, Shiva, and stepmother, Chandi. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find information about this one-eyed snake goddess. All that changed with the publication of Kaiser Haq's The Triumph of the Snake Goddess. This is an exhaustive scholarly work that walks the delicate balance between academic and engaging. A perfect read for anyone interested in the divine feminine and pre-colonial Bengali cultural history. Recommended By Shannon B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
In The Triumph of the Snake Goddess, Haq provides an informative and authoritative introduction to the Manasa traditions of premodern Bengal while creating a highly readable composite narrative of his own. The text is further animated by Doniger's introduction, which vividly situates the regional particularities of Manasa against the pan-Indian mythic backdrop. Brian A. Hatcher, Tufts University
Review
Both an impeccable scholarly venture and a sparklingly imaginative literary work in its own right, Kaiser Haq's composite edition--and brilliant translation--of Manasamangal tells the gripping (and frequently hilarious) story of Manasa, the snake-goddess, and the contestation of a minor deity's rights and privileges by a human. Manasa reminds us of the stubborn immortality of the folk and the non-canonical when faced with the literary and canonical. This is a revelatory, fascinating, and compelling book. Neel Mukherjee, author of < i=""> The Lives of Others <>
Synopsis
The Triumph of the Snake Goddess, a prose translation by the scholar and poet Kaiser Haq, is the first comprehensive retelling of this epic in modern English. Haq's Prologue explores the oral, poetic, and manuscript traditions, and Wendy Doniger's Introduction examines the significance of snake worship in classical Sanskrit texts.
About the Author
Kaiser Haq is Professor of English at the University of Dhaka.Wendy Doniger is Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
University of Chicago