Manasa Puja 2026 – Worship of the Serpent Goddess
মনসা পূজা
When is Manasa Puja in 2026?
Manasa Puja is on Monday, 17 August 2026, observed on the last day of the Bengali Shravan month (Shravan Sankranti). Manasa, the Hindu serpent goddess, is worshipped through the monsoon months of Shravan and Bhadra for protection from snakebite and for family wellbeing, with the largest single-day celebration falling on this date.
Manasa Puja honours Manasa Devi, the Hindu goddess of snakes, who is prayed to for safety from snakebite and for children, crops and household prosperity. It runs through the rainy months of Shravan and Bhadra, when snakes are most active, and reaches its high point on the last day of Shravan, which in 2026 is Monday, 17 August. The worship is strongest in Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, where her story is sung from the medieval Manasamangal Kavya and she is honoured on a branch of the thorny sij plant rather than in a fixed idol.
Manasa Puja 2026-2028: Dates & Calendar
The main Manasa Puja falls on Shravan Sankranti, the closing day of the Bengali month of Shravan, so the date shifts each year with the solar-lunar calendar. In 2026 it lands on Monday, 17 August.
| Year | Date | Day | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17 August | Sunday | Shravan Sankranti |
| 2026 | 17 August | Monday | Next occurrence – coincides with Nag Panchami |
| 2027 | 17 August | Tuesday | Shravan Sankranti |
| 2028 | 16 August | Wednesday | Shravan Sankranti |
A second major Manasa worship, called Ranna Puja, is held in parts of Bengal on Bhadra Sankranti a month later (around 16-17 September), when food cooked the previous day is offered cold. Smaller Manasa observances also fall on other days through Ashadha, Shravan and Bhadra.
Why Manasa Puja Is Celebrated
Manasa Puja is celebrated to win the serpent goddess’s protection from snakebite during the monsoon and to ask for children, healthy crops and family wellbeing. Its stories come from the Manasamangal Kavya, especially the tale of Behula and the merchant Chand Sadagar.
Protection through the snake season
The monsoon drives snakes out of flooded burrows and into homes and fields, and snakebite deaths spike across eastern India in these weeks. Worshipping Manasa is a plea for safe passage through this dangerous season, which is why her puja clusters in Shravan and Bhadra rather than at any other time of year.
The Manasamangal Kavya
From roughly the 13th century onward, Bengali poets composed the Manasamangal, a body of verse that narrates how Manasa fought to be accepted as a goddess. These songs were sung over several nights during the puja and carried her worship from village to village, turning a local folk deity into a widely honoured one.
Behula and Lakhindar
The best-loved episode tells of Chand Sadagar, a rich merchant devoted to Shiva who refused to worship Manasa. She killed his sons one by one; his last son Lakhindar died of snakebite on his wedding night. His widow Behula floated with the corpse on a raft to the court of the gods and, through her devotion, won her husband back, after which Chand finally offered Manasa worship with his left hand.
Fertility and prosperity
Beyond snakes, Manasa is asked for offspring, wealth and good harvests, and she is closely linked with water, rain and the fertile land of the delta. For many farming and fishing families she is a household protector whose favour keeps the whole year steady.
Deities & Figures Worshipped
The central figure is Manasa Devi, the serpent goddess, also called Vishahari or Bishahari (remover of poison) and Padmavati. Alongside her, the folk story brings in Behula, Chand Sadagar and the serpent king Vasuki.
Manasa Devi
Manasa is the goddess of snakes, poison, fertility and protection. Texts call her the mind-born daughter of the sage Kashyapa and sister of Vasuki, king of the nagas, while some regional traditions make her a daughter of Shiva. She is shown fair-skinned, often four-armed, seated on a lotus or standing on a serpent under a canopy of cobra hoods, and she is frequently described as one-eyed after an injury.
The Ashtanaga serpents
Manasa is surrounded by the great serpents of Hindu myth, and the eight foremost nagas (the Ashtanaga, including Vasuki, Takshaka and Ananta) are associated with her worship. Honouring the snake clan is part of asking her to hold their venom back.
Behula and Chand Sadagar
Behula, the devoted young widow who journeyed to the gods to reclaim her husband, and Chand Sadagar, the proud merchant who finally bowed to Manasa, are remembered wherever the Manasamangal is sung. Their story is recited as the heart of the puja rather than worshipped as separate deities.
Key Rituals, Step by Step
Manasa is usually worshipped without a permanent idol. A branch of the thorny sij (a euphorbia cactus) or a decorated earthen pot stands in for her, and the family gathers with milk, bananas and simple offerings.
- Set up the sacred stand. A branch of the sij plant, or a ghat (an earthen pot filled with water and topped with mango leaves and a green coconut), is installed on a clean patch of earth or the household shrine as the seat of the goddess.
- Purify and decorate. The spot is cleaned and marked with alpana (rice-paste floor art), and the sij branch or ghat is dressed with sindoor, flowers, vermilion and sometimes a small clay serpent image.
- Offer milk and bananas. Devotees present milk, ripe bananas, fruit, batasha (sugar drops), sweets and flowers, since milk is the classic offering to snakes and the goddess who commands them.
- Invoke Manasa. A priest or the eldest family member recites her mantras and prayers, asking for protection from snakebite and for the wellbeing of children, cattle and crops.
- Sing the Manasamangal. In many villages, especially in Bengal and Assam, verses of the Manasamangal or the local panchali are sung or recited through the day and often into the night, retelling the Behula legend.
- Fasting and vows. Women in particular keep a fast until the worship is complete and may take vows for a safe home, breaking the fast with the offered prasad afterwards.
- Distribute prasad. The blessed milk, bananas and sweets are shared among the household and neighbours as the goddess’s grace.
- Immersion. Where a temporary clay image or the ghat is used, it is carried to a pond or river and immersed at the close of the puja, sending the goddess back to the waters.
Special Foods of Manasa Puja
The food is homely and seasonal, built around monsoon produce and dishes that can be prepared in advance. Milk and bananas lead the offerings, followed by rice, lentils and eastern-Indian sweets.
Milk & bananas
Fresh milk and ripe bananas are the essential offering to Manasa, echoing the classic gift of milk to snakes. They are placed before the sij branch and later shared as prasad.
Khichuri
A comforting one-pot rice-and-lentil khichuri, sometimes with seasonal vegetables, is cooked and offered to the goddess, well suited to wet monsoon days and family gatherings.
Ghugni
A spiced dish of white or yellow peas, ghugni is a popular savoury item served during the puja and shared among visitors.
Pitha
Rice-flour pithas, some steamed and some fried with jaggery or coconut, are prepared for the occasion, particularly in rural households that keep the older customs.
Cold-cooked offerings (Ranna Puja)
For the linked Ranna Puja, food is cooked the day before and offered cold to the goddess the next morning, after which the kitchen fire stays unused – a custom tied to Manasa’s worship in Bengal.
Regional Names & Variations
Manasa Puja looks different from state to state, and it overlaps with Nag Panchami and with local snake-worship traditions across eastern and northeastern India.
West Bengal
Bengal keeps the fullest form of the puja, with the sij branch, alpana, night-long recitals of the Manasamangal and the Behula story, and a second observance as Ranna Puja on Bhadra Sankranti. She is widely called Vishahari or Bishahari here.
Assam
In Assam she is worshipped through Shravan and Bhadra with the Ojapali – a folk performance in which singers and dancers narrate her legend. Community pujas and fairs mark the season across the Brahmaputra valley.
Bihar & Jharkhand
Here Manasa is often honoured as Bishahari, especially by communities close to rivers and fields where snakebite is a real danger. Her worship blends with Nag Panchami and local naga shrines.
Odisha
Parts of rural Odisha keep Manasa worship during the monsoon for protection from snakes, sometimes alongside the broader tradition of naga worship observed across the region.
Link with Nag Panchami
Manasa Puja and Nag Panchami both fall in Shravan and both centre on snakes, so in some years and places they coincide, as they do in 2026. Nag Panchami is a pan-Indian day of snake worship, while Manasa Puja is the more elaborate, region-specific festival of the goddess herself.
Manasa Puja Do's and Don'ts
A few simple customs keep the worship respectful and in keeping with tradition.
Do
- Offer fresh milk, bananas and seasonal fruit with a clean and settled mind.
- Keep the sij branch or ghat and the surrounding area clean before installing it.
- Recite or listen to the Manasamangal or the local panchali if a reciter is available.
- Involve the women of the household, who traditionally lead the vows and fast.
- Immerse any temporary clay image or ghat respectfully in a pond or river at the end.
Avoid
- Do not harm or kill snakes during this season, which runs against the spirit of the puja.
- Do not use a fixed stone idol where the custom is to worship the sij branch or ghat.
- Do not offer stale or leftover food, except where the Ranna Puja custom specifically calls for cold-cooked food.
- Do not skip the recital of her story where it is the local practice, as the songs are central to the worship.
- Do not treat the immersion carelessly – it is meant to close the puja properly.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Manasa Puja in 2026?
Manasa Puja in 2026 is on Monday, 17 August, the last day of the Bengali month of Shravan (Shravan Sankranti). This is the main single-day celebration, though smaller Manasa worship continues through the surrounding monsoon weeks. In 2026 it also coincides with Nag Panchami.
When is Manasa Puja in 2027 and 2028?
Manasa Puja falls on Tuesday, 17 August 2027 and on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. The date is tied to Shravan Sankranti, the close of the Bengali Shravan month, so it moves by a day or two each year with the calendar.
Why is Manasa Puja celebrated?
Manasa Puja is celebrated to seek the serpent goddess’s protection from snakebite during the monsoon, when snakes are most active, and to ask for children, good harvests and family prosperity. Her worship is rooted in the Manasamangal Kavya and the famous legend of Behula and the merchant Chand Sadagar.
Which goddess is worshipped on Manasa Puja?
Manasa Devi, the Hindu goddess of snakes, is worshipped on Manasa Puja. She is also known as Vishahari or Bishahari, meaning the remover of poison, and is described as the mind-born daughter of the sage Kashyapa and sister of the serpent king Vasuki.
How is Manasa worshipped without an idol?
Manasa is usually worshipped on a branch of the thorny sij (euphorbia) plant or on a decorated earthen pot rather than a fixed idol. The branch or pot is installed on clean ground, dressed with sindoor and flowers, and offered milk, bananas and fruit as the seat of the goddess.
What is the story of Behula and Lakhindar?
Behula and Lakhindar are the central couple of the Manasamangal. When Chand Sadagar refused to worship Manasa, she killed his son Lakhindar by snakebite on his wedding night; his widow Behula floated with the body to the gods and won him back through her devotion, after which Chand finally worshipped the goddess.
How is Manasa Puja related to Nag Panchami?
Both Manasa Puja and Nag Panchami fall in the monsoon month of Shravan and both centre on snakes, so they sometimes coincide, as they do in 2026. Nag Panchami is a pan-Indian day of snake worship, while Manasa Puja is the more elaborate, region-specific festival of the goddess Manasa in Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Odisha.
Where is Manasa Puja mainly celebrated?
Manasa Puja is mainly celebrated in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of Odisha. Bengal keeps the fullest form with night-long recitals of the Manasamangal, Assam marks it with the Ojapali folk performance, and river-side communities across the east honour her as a protector against snakebite.
May Manasa Devi guard your home from every danger through the monsoon and beyond. Manasa mangal hok.