Article contributed to OnStage, the in-house magazine for the National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai

1. photographsbytaniachatterjee
The tale of Manasa,
the ambitious serpent
goddess of West
Bengal that was
popularised through
the evolving art of the
Patachitra, continues
to remain relevant in
our times.
By Priya Moorthy
The Myths’
I
n the many far-flung villages
across West Bengal, popular
entertainment led by
technology still eludes the
masses. The Chitrakars or
Patuas, a caste of wandering
bards, continue to be the chief source
of entertainment, going from village to
village to sing stories aided by beautiful,
painted scrolls. They perform inside
temples and at village squares with
fables about animals, myths of gods
and goddesses, even retellings of epics
such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
The colourful scroll painting or the
Pata unfolds as a visual prop to their
songs of lore. It is through such visual
commentaries that the cult of Manasa,
the snake goddess, is said to have grown
and caught the popular imagination over
the years.
The craft of the pata
CThe Patuas bring together the art form
of storytelling, painting and singing.
The oral narratives aim to entertain and
bring currency to the age-old stories;
the performances are replete with
information culled from local gossip,
jokes, news and more in order to make
a mythical story fun yet significant to a
local audience. And, it is the storytellers
who guide the audience through the
visual part of the narrative, pointing out
to the characters in question. This multi-
sensorial engagement that combines the
visual and aural appeals to one and all.
Moreover, it is the collective imagination
of the audience that truly cements their
engagement with the art form.
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Canvas

2. 36 • April 2016 NCPA
Creating a scroll painting or a Pata is
usuallyacommunalactivitywithinafamily
or a community in which each member
has a role to play – right from creating
the base canvas to extracting colours,
drawing the outlines to filling in the hues
in primary colours. The community of
Chitrakars had embraced Islam many
centuries ago but today carry both Hindu
and Muslim names. In recent years, the
art has seen many strong female voices
emerge from within its fold. According
to Frank J. Korom, a professor at Boston
University who is an authority on the
Patuas of Bengal, “The tradition of women
Patuas painting is relatively new. They
were all trained by Dukhushyam Chitrakar,
who took the initiative in the 1970s.”
The cloth Patas come in different sizes
and can vary between three feet in width
to 20 feet in length. As you look closer, the
scroll draws you in with its comic book-
like irreverence in style, juxtaposed with
the formality that comes with depictions
of the sacred. At the outset, what might
appearchildlikeisrepletewithattentionto
detail in proportions of the body, the play
of colours, ornamentation, movement and
expression and the neatly organised space
division.
The Manasa Mangal
story
Puja na koriya jeba kore upahas
Padmar kopete hoi swabangsha naash
Bhakati koriya jeba korye pujan
Manobhishtha siddha tat hoy tatkkhan
(Whoever does not worship her or treats
her with disrespect
Will be destroyed along with his family by
the anger of Padma (Manasa)
Whoever worships her with faith,
Their aspirations will be instantly
fulfilled.)
- Saumitra Chakravarty, April 2012
The popularity of the myth of Manasa
can be traced back to a form of religious
poetry called the ‘Mangal Kāvya’ written
between the 15th and 18th centuries in
Bengal. This form of poetry used simple
vernacular text and imagery to eulogise
local deities who could provide a moral
anchor in times of distress or protection
from ills. These kavyas were sung by the
Patuas especially during festivals and
varied from singer to singer. The ‘Manasa
Mangal Kāvya’ is the oldest of the ‘Mangal
Kāvya’ and it narrates the story of the
serpent goddess Manasa’s determination
to gain respect and acceptance among
the people and establish her worship in
Bengal.
Manasa’s story is as engaging as it is
complex.Oftenreferredtoasthedaughter
of Shiva through a mortal mother, she
was spurned by her stepmother Chandi
and later abandoned by her husband.
‘Manasa Mangal’ is about Manasa’s quest
to win more followers on earth. Her road
to victory, however, is marked by deceit,
intimidation and brute strength that she
used quite freely to undermine those
who challenged her. Despite this, she is
unable to convert the Shiva-worshipping
trader Chand Sadagar. Manasa, in turn,
wreaks havoc in Chand’s life, killing
off his seven sons and wrecking his
ships. In the end, the matter is resolved
when Chand gives in to the pleas of his
youngest son Lakhinder’s widow Behula.
The merchant submits to Manasa by
offering a flower to her with his left hand.
The serpent goddess, overcome with joy,
showers him with riches and restores his
fortunes. There onwards, Chand is said
to have eventually convinced the trader
community to worship Manasa, making
her one of the most popular deities of
Bengal.
Manasa’s story can also be viewed from
an alternate lens of patriarchy where
a female local deity from outside the
Hindu pantheon is fighting for her place
in the sun. ‘Laghujaati Kani’ – the one-
eyed woman of low caste, as Manasa is
constantly referred to, is not only battling
caste bias but also a gender and class
bias, according to the poet Bijoy Gupta.
Over time, while this fiery, independent
goddess has been reduced to playing a
stereotypical role as that of a goddess of
fertility, wish fulfilment and knowledge,
the worship as it continues today among
rural women steers clear of Brahminical
ritual interventions.
The Pata tradition
Over the years, while the storytelling
tradition within Patachitra has languished,
the Patuas who are itinerant bards are
fast losing their relevance. This has
increasingly made Patachitra a purely
visual art form devoid of its original
context. In the last few decades, some
Patuas have moved away from traditional
themes to work with the government
and NGOs to educate far-flung areas
within Bengal on subjects such as family
planning, HIV-AIDS, literacy etc. They have
also expanded their repertoire to include
current-day themes such as the tsunami,
the 9/11 attack, even the destruction of
the Babri Masjid. Therefore, traditional
themes from the ‘Mangal Kāvya’ tradition
and the epics are starting to fade away
from the spotlight.
Despite the upheaval in the traditions,
the cult of Manasa continues to fascinate
the storyteller, the painter and the
audience. Within the Patua tradition of
storytelling, Manasa’s story makes for a
compelling tale for she is human-like in
her demeanour, complete with flaws that
are hard to ignore. This makes it a fertile
playground for the Patua engaging in
lively drawings and descriptions of her
feats. Further, the ‘Manasa Mangal Kāvya’
is quite popular in parts of East Bengal
(now Bangladesh) and parts of West
Bengal, where deaths due to snake bites
are rather common in a dense, marshy
geography. The worship of Manasa
is an important example of the folk
dialogue with nature and largely falls
into the domain of the womenfolk of
rural Bengal seeking divine intervention
from everyday ills. Lastly, in the changing
demographics of the Pata painters, where
women are taking the lead, the story of an
independent, goal-oriented goddess has
more reason to come to the fore and stay
relevant in our times.
Probal Gupta will present Manasa’s
story in Kathakali on 22nd April at the
Experimental Theatre. Paintings inspired
by Patachitra will also be displayed at the
NCPA during the Mudra Dance Festival.
Manasa’s story can
also be viewed from
the lens of patriarchy
in which a female local
deity from outside the
Hindu pantheon is
fighting for her place
The Patachitra scroll
draws you in with
its comic book-like
irreverence in style,
juxtaposed with the
formality that comes
with depictions of
the sacred
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