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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Group of Bengali Hindu religious texts}}<br />
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[[Image:Manasa-popular.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Depiction of [[Manasa|Manasā]], the snake-goddess in 20th century [[Bengali people|Bengali]] popular art.]]<br />
{{Culture of Bengal}}<br />
'''Mangal-Kāvya''' ({{lang-bn|মঙ্গলকাব্য}}, "Poems of Benediction") is a group of [[Bengali Hindu]] religious texts, composed more or less between 13th and 18th centuries, notably consisting of narratives of indigenous deities of rural [[Bengal]] in the social scenario of the Middle Ages. The '''Mangal-Kāvyas''' usually give prominence to a particular deity amalgamated with a [[Vedic]] or Hindu mythological god and the narratives are usually written in the form of verses.<br />
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''Manasā Mangal'', ''Chandī Mangal'' and ''Dharma Mangal'', the three major genus of '''Mangal-Kāvya''' tradition include the portrayal of the magnitude of [[Manasa|Manasā]], [[Chandi|Chandī]] and [[Dharmathakur]] respectively. They are considered the greatest among all the native divinities in Bengal. But restraining the accounts of other deities, there are also minor Mangal-Kāvyas known as ''Shivāyana'', ''Kālikā Mangal'', ''Rāya Mangal'', ''Shashtī Mangal'', ''Sītalā Mangal'' and ''Kamalā Mangal'' etc. Each strain is composed by more than one poet or group of poets who are on the whole the worshipper of the god or goddess concerning their verses.<br />
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The Mangal-Kāvya tradition is an archetype of the synthesis between the Vedic and the popular folk culture of [[India]]. Lila Ray elaborates, "Indigenous myths and legends inherited from Indo-Aryan cultures began to blend and crystallise around popular deities and semi-mythological figures in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A new cosmogony was evolved, which is different from Sanskrit tradition but has an unmistakable affinity with the cosmogonic hymns in [[Rigveda]] and the Polynesian myth of creation".<ref>p.145, Bengali Literature, Annada Shankar Ray and Lila Ray, [[Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi]], [[Kolkata]]</ref><br />
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==Etymology==<br />
The word '''Mangal-Kāvya''' comes out as an amalgamation of the two [[Bengali language|Bengali]] words, ''Mangal'' (Benediction) and ''Kavya'' (Poems). These are so named because it was believed that listening to these verses concerning the auspicious divinities would bring both spiritual and material benefits. Though some scholars of the early modern period tried to find out any other significance of the word ''Mangal'' that was frequently used in the medieval Bengali literature irrespective of any designated tradition. But all these speculations are now firmly discarded by the recent school of intellectuals.<br />
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#Listening to them was said to bring [[spirituality|spiritual]] and [[materialism|material]] benefits ("mangal").<ref name = "Banglapedia">{{cite book |last=Bhowmik |first=Dulal |year=2012 |chapter=Mangalkavya |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Mangalkavya |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref><br />
#They were sung in the Mangal [[raga]].<br />
#They were read out in [[ritual]]s extending from one "Mangalbar" (Tuesday) to the next.<br />
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==Poems==<br />
Mangalkavya were used to describe the greatness of particular Hindu deities known as "nimnokoti" (roughly translating as lower) by historians, because they were absent or unimportant in classical Hindu literature such as the [[Vedas]] or [[Puranas]]. These deities were based on indigenous to Bengal (like [[Manasa]]) who had become assimilated in regional Hinduism. These deities are often depicted with unusually strong human qualities and they engage in direct interaction with humans. They are also portrayed to have flaws such as envy like other human beings.<br />
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In the time period when they were produced, Mangalkavya was the representation of nearly all medieval [[Bengali language|Bengali]] literature. Mangalkavya was the main form of expression in the Later Middle Period of the language.<ref name="i3pep">[http://www.i3pep.org/archives/2003/11/03/bengali-language-a-brief-introduction/ Bengali Language: A Brief Introduction] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011042610/http://www.i3pep.org/archives/2003/11/03/bengali-language-a-brief-introduction/ |date=11 October 2006 }} – i3pep.org</ref><br />
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==Construction==<br />
Mangalkavyas were composed of four parts: the Vandana, the Reasoning, the Devakhanda, and the Narakhanda.<br />
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==Characteristics==<br />
''Mangals'' are usually similar in form though variant in length. They are written for the most part in the simple payar meter, a couplet form with the rhyme scheme “aa bb,” etc., which is considered an appropriate form for oral literature.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050512/mangal-kavya mangal-kavya] - ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref><br />
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==Usage==<br />
They are often recited at the festivals of the deities mentioned in the [[poem|kavya]]. The popular ones are sung to entertain village audiences as [[Bhajan]]s. Many variants exist, since singers may change the verses. Most are written in simple couplets, using earthy imagery drawn from simple objects like: village, field, and river.<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/mangal-kavya Mangal-kavya] - Answers.com</ref><br />
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==Effects==<br />
The spread of Mangalkavya increased throughout [[Bengal]] around the late 18th century. It has been documented in the city of [[Majilpur]] that the number of [[Shiva]] [[mandir]]s increased tremendously after Mangalkavya began being composed in the vicinity<ref>[http://www.hindubooks.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=143&page=7 24 Parganas - Page 6] HinduBooks</ref><br />
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==Kavya==<br />
The main Mangalkavyas include [[Manasamangalkavya]], [[Chandimangalkavya]], [[Dharmamangalkavya]] and [[Annada Mangal|Annadamangalkavya]], with Manasamangal being the most famous. It is widely considered to be one of the most important works ever of Bengali literature and references to stories of Manasamangal abound in literature even to this day because of their highly [[symbol]]ic value. There are also other minor Mangalkavyas such as [[Raimangalkavya]] in the [[Sundarban]] region.<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Chaitanya Bhagavata]]<br />
*[[Tulsidas]]<br />
*[[Bhakti]]<br />
*[[Bengali literature]]<br />
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==References==<br />
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{{Dharmamangal Topics}}<br />
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[[Category:15th-century Indian books]]<br />
[[Category:16th-century Indian books]]<br />
[[Category:17th-century Indian books]]</div>2409:4043:2E81:A206:B88E:E2B4:DE2C:E89D