(c) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
1. REMEMBERING BISHAHARI PUJA, MANJUSHA ART AND THEIR ARTISTS: - SMT. CHAKRAVARTY DEVI, JYOTHI CHAND SHARMA, SMT. NIRMALA DEVI..........
2. BISHAHARI PUJA IS CELEBRATED IN VAST REGIONS OF EASTERN INDIA, IN VARIANT NAMES AND MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH GODDESS MANASA, MINOR GOD IN THE HINDU PANTHEON
3. MANJUSHA ART REFLECTS THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ANGA MAHAJANAPADA
BRIEF HISTORY OF MANJUSHA ART
WHAT ARE MANJUSHAS AND WHAT ARE THE USES?
1. Manjushas are an Indian folk art form which is based on the folklore of Bihula-Bishari.
2. This folk region is found in the ANGA region of Gangetic Bihar.
3. ANGA is the geographical region, south of the River Ganges and in-between the ‘Harohar-Kiul Rivers’ in west and the ‘Teliagarhi-Rajmahal’ in the east.
4. MANJUSHAS are temple-shaped boxes comprising eight pillars.
5. They are made of bamboo, jute and paper.
6. They also contain paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses and other characters.
7. These boxes are used in Bishahari Puja, a festival dedicated to the Snake God.
8. The paintings are drawn primarily on the occasion of the Bishari puja, celebrated usually in August to propitiate the snake gods.
9. As Bihula’s boat was decorated by a character called Lahsan Mali, this art has been confined to the Mali or gardener caste.
10. Like Madhubanis, Manjushas too are pictorial reflections of folklore, poetry and the larger cultural consciousness of the region.
WHERE ARE BISHAHARI PUJA CELEBRATED?
Bishahari Puja is celebrated in vast regions of Eastern India, in variant names and myths associated with the GODDESS MANASA, Minor God in the Hindu Pantheon i.e. in deltaic region of Bengal, in the riverine terrain of Assam and other parts of Gangetic plains of Eastern Bihar, which includes Anga Pradesh and Anga-Uttarap also.
The small hamlet of MANSI at Khagaria district is associated with legend of the Goddess Manasa.
CHIEF CHARACTERISTIC OF MANJUSHA ART
1. Three colors, RED, YELLOW and GREEN on the BLACK BACKGROUND are used in Manjusha Art
2. In Manjusha Art, Borders are very important.
3. Manjusha Art is a Line drawing Art.
4. Manjusha Art is a Folk Art.
5. Manjusha Art is believed to be the only Art form in India which has a sequential representation of the story and is displayed in a series. This is also called Scroll Painting.
6. Manjusha Art is completely based on folklore of Bihula-Bishari.
7. In Manjusha Art Characters are displayed as X letter of English Alphabets.
8. Other motifs figuring prominently in these paintings are drawn from nature, be it the Snake, Champa Flower, Sun, Moon, Elephant, Turtle, Fish, Maina Bird, Kamal Flower, Kalash Pot, Arrow Bow, Tree etc.
9. Major Characters of Manjusha Art – Lord Shiva, Phallic representation of Shiva, Mansa Devi (Bishari), Bihula, Bala (Lakhindar), Hanuman, Chandu (Chand) Saudagar
10. Borders in Manjusha Art – Belpatr, Lehariya, Triangle, Mokha and series of Snakes.
LOCAL MYTHS AND TRADITION
1. There are common legends in ANGA & ANGAUTTARAP which says that five daughters of Lord Shiva, Maina, Bhawani, Devi, Padma and Jaya, known as Bishahari (meaning "person carrying poison"), requested to worship earth. There request was granted by Shiva in the form of the Bishahari festival.
2. This art was earlier done by only two families (i) the Kumbhakar caste and (ii) the Malakar caste.
3. The Kumbhakar caste used to make the pots on which the manjusa art is painted and worshipped during the festival.
4. The Malakar caste makes the actual "manjushas" and paint the manjusa art on these structures.
5. There is another caste called the Kashira caste, they used to make the pots out of "peetal"/brass. There are only two families left who still practice this art.
6. Earlier the Pandit family Cheddhi and Basant Pandit used to make the Manjusa art for the temple, for this service all their expenses were taken care of by the village.
IS ‘MANJUSHA ART’, THE MODERN ART FORM?
1. Manjushas are considered by many as modern art, due to their form and abstract themes.
2. That is why; the art-lover who discovered them for the outside world, W.G. Archer, an ICS officer (who worked in different parts of Bihar) between 1931 and 1948, compared Manjusha art forms to the works of Picasso and Jackson Pollock.
3. Archer, in fact, took some of these paintings to the India Office Library in London as a part of the Archer Collection.
4. The Manjusha or the border lining the work is often criticised as merely the “ceremonial” part of the painting, but it was what sets them apart.
5. A temple-shaped structure with eight pillars, it often has swirling snakes depicting the central character Bihula’s tale of love and sacrifice.
6. Manjushas, thus, have often been referred to as snake paintings by Westerners, including Archer.
7. It was at this time that Manjusa art gained international recognition.
MODERN INITIATIVE
1. In 1984 the Bihar government made an intitative called "Jansampoorna Vibagh" in which they went to the villages of Bhagalpur and showed them slideshows of Manjusa art and educated people about this traditional art form in the hope of reviving it.
2. After which Smt.Chakravathy Devi and Jyothi Chand Sharma came into the picture and helped revive this craft.
(i) Smt.Chakravathy Devi was one of the most traditional artisans and belonged to one of the two families who have started this art. She has worked tirelessly in reviving this craft.
(ii) During the same time Smt. Nirmala Devi also started working in this field and has come to be known and honoured for her efforts to revive this craft.
(iii) In 1992, an artisan by name Mr. Manoj Pandit started experimenting with different materials and started painting on silk and other fabrics which helped take this art to the next level. From being just an art done for religious purposes, the artisans were able to use it in prod- ucts more suited to the market.
3. The Bihar government has been making a lot of efforts to revive this craft and
(i) Many skill up-gradation training's have taken place both in Bhagalpur as well as in the nearby villages.
(ii) They have made a good effort in trying to make people aware of this craft.
(iii) They have taken certain moves like it is mandatory that all the Zilla Parishad banks have to have a Manjusa Art painting hanging in their banks, which automatically provides the artisans with some kind of market.
(iv) Recently the Bihar government has put together a committee which comprises 11 people out of which 4 artisans will be present to apply for a patent for the Manjusa art form. They are planning to patent it as a Bhagalpur folk art.
IMPORTANCE OF MANJUSHA ART
1. Manjusha Art is an ancient and historically significant art form, considered on a par with Madhubani art.
2. Manjusha Art or Manjusha Kala is often referred to as Snake Paintings by foreigners as swirling snakes in the art depict the central character Bihula's tale of love and sacrifice.
3. A recent study on Manjusha Art provides an excellent example of how this art reflects the history of ancient Anga Mahajanapada.
ARTISTS AND AWARDS
1. First time in 2012, Late Chakravarty Devi awarded with SITA DEVI AWARD in the field of Manjusha Art.
2. In 2013, Shrimati Nirmala Devi awarded with Bihar Kala Award "SITA DEVI AWARD".
3. In the field of Manjusha Art, First State Award given to Shri Manoj Pandit for his work towards revival of indigenous art form "Manjusha Art". This award is given by Upendra Maharathi Shilp Anusandhan Sansthan & Dept. of Industries, Bihar.
4. On Recommendation of Art, culture and youth affairs department, Bihar; Ministry of Culture (Sanskriti Mantralaya) awarded ‘Manjusha Kala Guru Award’ to Shri Manoj Pandit in 2014.
5. In 2016 - Ulupi Jha is one of the100 successful women across the country selected by the Union ministry of women and child development on the basis of online voting for her Manjusha painting.
GODDESS MANASA, THE MINOR GOD IN THE HINDU PANTHEON
1. Manasā, also Mansa Devi, is a Hindu folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of Eastern and north-eastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and prosperity.
2. Manasa is the sister of Vasuki, king of Nāgas (snakes) and wife of sage Jagatkāru (Jaratkāru). She is also known as Vishahara (the destroyer of poison), Nityā (eternal) and Padmavati.[2]
3. Her myths emphasize her bad temper and unhappiness, due to rejection by her father Shiva and her husband (Lord Shiva is depicted as Father/ or Husband in variant myths), and the hatred of her stepmother, Chandi (Shiva's wife, identified with Parvati in this context).
4. In some scriptures, sage Kashyapa is considered to be her father, rather than Shiva. Manasa is depicted as kind to her devotees, but harsh to people who refused to worship her.
5. Denied full godhead by her mixed parentage, Manasa’s aim was to fully establish her authority as a goddess and to acquire steadfast human devotees.
ORIGIN OF GODDESS MANASA
1. Goddess Manasa was originally a Adivasi (tribal) goddess, and was accepted in the pantheon worshipped by Hindu lower caste groups.
2. Later, she was included in higher caste Hindu pantheon, where she is now regarded as a Hindu goddess rather than a tribal one.
3. As a Hindu goddess, she was recognized as a daughter of sage Kashyapa and Kadru, the mother of all Nāgas. By the 14th century, Manasa was identified as the goddess of fertility and marriage rites and was assimilated into the Shaiva pantheon as a daughter of Shiva.
4. Myths glorified her by describing that she saved Shiva after he drank poison, and venerated her as the "remover of poison".
5. Her popularity grew and spread to Southern India, and her cult began to rival Shaivism itself.
6. As a consequence, stories attributing Manasa's birth to Shiva emerged and ultimately Shaivism adopted this indigenous goddess into the Brahmanical tradition of mainstream Hinduism.
7. In Anga and Anga-Uttarap, Goddess Manasa is worshipped as ‘BISHA HARI’.
PICTURES
1. Chakravarty Devi
2, Manjusha
3 & 4 Manjusha Art
5. Goddess Manasa with son Astika - Pala Bronze 10th Century idol
Nice information.
ReplyDeleteHowever I would like to humbly submit that during 2007-12, NABARD supported the revival movement for Manjusha art through various interventions including skill training, livelihoods development, activity based groups for group based financial leverages and taking artists to marketing networks.
I would be available for any inputs that you require.
This would document NABARD's efforts.