Naag Panchami

Lord Vishnu's couch is the green, thousand-headed snake (Ananta or Sesha) Who holds up the entire material creation. Lord Krishna is called "Kaliya Mardan" to commemorate his victory over the giant snake, Kaliya. Offerings of milk, ghee, sweets, water and rice are also made at the sites of snake holes (Pithu). Devotees consider themselves fortunate if snakes drink offered milks. The Naag culture is quite common in India. Snakes are worshiped in many forms may they be made of metal, stone or even in the form of a drawing. Then offerings of milk, ghee and water are made even to the image of a snake. It is believed that in reward for this worship, snakes will never bite any member of the family. Naag Panchami has prevailed ever since Lord Krishna killed Kaliya and liberated the people.

The best-known serpent is Lord Ananta Shesh Naag because Lord Vishnu reclines on Him. Shree Lakshman (Lord Raam's brother) and Shree Balarama (Lord Krishna's brother) are incarnations of Shree Ananta Shesh Naag.

The universe is balanced on Shesh Naag's head. Nagas (snakes) are people as well as Snakes. Snakes are believed to be living in their own world 'Nagaloka or 'Patala'. There is many an 'old' story which mentions humans as marrying snakes or/and their progeny.

Indians (Hindus) worship snakes as their Benefactor Deities. Snakes help good harvest because they eat pests and they are considered symbols of sexual energy and are guardians of wealth.

There is no specific fasting on this day (of course no meat should be consumed) but one should go to your local temple that has a Pithu (snake pit). One can first offer ones prayers to Naga Devata asking for guidance and protection and then pour milk in a bowl and leave. Some offer unsalted popcorn, sweet rice and so forth. If there is more than one Pithu then you can offer milk to all. I don’t recommend offering the milk into the pithu as how can Naga Devata drink the milk if it’s in the sand. Please do refrain from offering any un-sattvic foodstuff like eggs.

Now many will say why are we promoting snake worship we should rather just killed them. Well naturally to the primitive mind any sophisticated and advanced knowledge would be indistinguishable from the masses and be naturally scorned upon and ridiculed. This worship may seem rather strange but to the advanced soul this prayer is so important. Remember that the little intellect cannot understand many things in this universe. One should be very respectful rather than critical.

Lord Shiva also wears snakes on his body. From the Srimad Bhagavatam 3rd canto chapter 26 states Lord Sankarshana (Lord Krishna) controls that false ego and in order to become free from it one is advised to worship Lord Sankarshan. He is worshipped through Lord Shiva; the snakes, which cover the body of Lord Shiva, are representations of Lord Sankarshan, and Lord Shiva is always absorbed in meditation upon Shree Sankarshana (Lord Krishna).

In the Shiva-Ashtakam verse 16 composed by Shree Caitanya Mahaprabhu says “I offer my obeisance’s to you O Shree Shiva, whose form is brilliantly illuminated by the jewels of Ananta-deva, the king of snakes.”

Jahnava Nitai Das reported this… last year in the Hare Krishna Temple in the state of Orissa, East India on Naag Panchami a wonderful event happened. A divine Naga (snake) appeared at the Shree Jagannath temple in Bhadrak, to bless devotees. The cobra was first seen early morning, around 5 a.m., inside the hollow of a Kadamba tree next to Shree Jagannath’s altar. At first the devotees could not identify that it was a Naga and thought to chase it away, as there are several other types of poisonous snakes in this area. There were many attempts to tap it softly with a long stick so that it would leave and not endanger anyone, but it did not react at all. Even after trying to chase the snake away for more than half an hour, repeatedly tapping it will a long pole, it remained silently coiled in the tree, completely ignoring attempts to get it to leave.

After many attempts, a 90 year-old traditional snake expert came and confirmed that the snake was a Naga and would not harm anyone. He approached the tree and bowed his head against the opening in the tree, just inches away from the cobra. The cobra was not at all disturbed by his presence and did not react even though his head was just a few inches from the snake.

He informed us that today was Naga Panchami, and that this snake must not be an ordinary snake. Frankincense was then brought to offer to the snake to see if it was truly a Naga. As soon as the large pot of frankincense (Lobhan/samarani/jhuna) was offered to the snake, it immediately stood up and opened its hood wide, making a large hissing sound. After a few minutes it again lowered its hood and sat silently inside the Kadamba tree, sitting peacefully throughout the entire day and night.

As word spread, more than 1,000 villagers arrived throughout the day and night, bringing offerings of milk and deepams (clay lamps), to receive the blessings of the Naga. In Orissa, Nagas are considered as signs of Lord Shiva (Akandalamani). With the recent installation of Shree Vimala Devi (Mother Durga), the Naga is seen by the villagers as the divine presence of her husband Lord Shiva.

By nightfall, when the temple was closed, the Naga was still sitting inside the hollow of the Kadamba tree. The next morning when priests went to awaken the deities of Lord Jagannatha, the Naga was no longer present. He came only for the occasion of Naga Panchami, and sat silently the entire day and night to give darshan to all of the visiting devotees.

In Lord Jagannath’s temple in Jagannath Puri, India, Nagas are said to guard the Deity's treasure chamber. Below the temple there are secret rooms that no one is allowed to enter, and these are used to store the Golden Dress (Suna Vesha) as well as many other jewels that belong to the Deity. These chambers are filled with divine Nagas who guard the Lord's treasury. Only one person will be allowed to enter this treasury, and he can do so only after fasting, performing specific austerities, and offering prayers. Once the Nagas have been satisfied, the pujari (priest) is then allowed safe passage to collect Lord Jagannath’s jewels and dresses. Thus the celestial Nagas have been tied to the service of Lord Jagannath for thousands of years. For the full story and the pictures of this divine and inspirational story please go onto this web-link. http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/news/08-07/news1438.htm

6 worlds below the Earth lies the world of Mahatala which is of the descendants of Kadru who have a name as a bunch of ever angry, many hooded, cruel snake types, as there are the notorious Kuhaka, Takshaka, Kalya, and Sushena. Greatly sensual they are constantly afraid of the king of all birds [Garuda], the carrier of the Original Personality Lord Vishnu, who sometimes infuriates them when they are sporting being together with their wives, children, friends and relatives.

7 worlds below the Earth lies the world of Rasatala that is of the daityas and Danavas [the evil minded sons of Diti and Danu] named the Panis, the Nivata-kavacas, the Kaleyas and the Hiranya-puravasis; they are from birth so said the very cruel and greatly powerful enemies of the devas and are inevitably defeated by the might of the Supreme Lord Hari so favorable to all the worlds. Living like the snakes are they in truth afraid of the King of Heaven through the words of a mantra of Saramaya, a female votary of Indra.

The last and at the bottom of the 14 planetary systems in this Universe is called Patala, the world of the master snakes; headed by Vasuki are there Sankha, Kulika, Mahasankha, Sveta, Dhananjaya, Dhritarashthra, Sankhacuda, Kambala, Asvatara and Devadatta and so on. With the shortest temper do they all live very enslaved to material happiness and have they verily indeed five, seven, ten, a hundred or a thousand hoods, with on their crests fixed the most valuable gems of which the effulgence disperses the vast darkness of the caves of Patala.

In Srimad Bhagavatam 5th canto Chapter 25 Shree Sukadeva Goswami said to Maharaj Parikshit: My dear King, approximately 240,000 miles beneath the planet Patala lives another incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Shree Krishna. He is the expansion of Lord Krsna known as Lord Ananta or Lord Sankarshana. Lord Shiva, the deity of tamo-guna or darkness, worships Lord Sankarshan. Lord Ananta is the predominating Deity of the material mode of ignorance as well as the false ego of all conditioned souls. This great universe is situated on one of Lord Anantadeva's thousands of hoods. It is infinitesimal compared to the hood of Lord Ananta. When the leaders of the snakes offer their obeisances to Lord Sankarshana with great devotion, they become very joyful upon seeing their own beautiful faces reflected in His toenails. Sukadeva Goswami continued: The devas, the demons, the Uragas [serpentine entities], the Siddhas, the Gandharvas, the Vidyadharas and many highly elevated sages constantly offer prayers to Lord Ananta.

Other well-known 'Naags':

Vaasuki: When devas and demons were churning the cosmic ocean to obtain Amrita (nectar), they selected Mandara Mountain as their churning axle. But they could not find a string large enough that would go round the mountain and whose opposite ends they could pull to rotate the mountain. So they approached Vasuki, king of the Nagas, who agreed to be the rope. When the ocean was churned, 13 jewels emerged from it, along with Amrita. The katha on Vaasuki is narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam 8th canto chapter 5-10. To read the full katha please go onto the link below from the Srimad Bhagavatam. http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto8/c8-contents.html

Takshak: This king of Nagas was responsible for ending the life of King Parikshit, the descendant of Pandavas. Maharaj Parikshit once insulted a great sage while he was in meditation. The sage's son cursed Maharaj Parikshit by saying that he will die of a snakebite. When Maharaj Parikshit was bitten and thus killed by Takshak, Maharaj Parikshit’s son, Janamejaya, was so angry that he performed a huge snake sacrifice. His priests chanted powerful mantras, which made all snakes, fall into the sacrificial fire. Takshak sought Lord Indra's help. But the mantras were so powerful that both Takshak and Lord Indra began to fall into the fire. Then Astik, a wise sage, intervened and stopped the sacrifice before all snakes were annihilated. To read the full katha please go onto the link below from the Srimad Bhagavatam. http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto1/c1-contents.html http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto12/chapter5.html http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto12/chapter6.html

Kaliya: This gigantic snake lived in river Yamuna near Mathura, India. He was so poisonous that the river water became unfit for drinking. People living in Mathura, Vrindavan and Gokul could not approach the river for fear of the snake. So Lord Krishna, who was a small child at the time, was playing with his friends near the river bank. All of a sudden, their ball fell into the river. Everyone was scared to approach the river but Lord Krishna jumped into the waters to retrieve the ball. His friends panicked as Lord Krishna disappeared under the water surface. Kaliya was enraged at this violation of his territory. In the ensuing fight, Lord Krishna subdued the giant snake and compelled him to vacate the river stretch near Mathura. To read the full katha please go onto the link below from the Srimad Bhagavatam. http://www.srimadbhagavatam.org/canto10/chapter16.html

Kadru: Kadru was wife of the great sage Kashyapa. She gave birth to a thousand snakes that are considered to be ancestors of all snakes. Thus snakes are semi-divine beings. Kadru once won a bet with sage Kashyap's other wife, Vinata. As a result, Vinata had to serve Kadru as a maid. Vinata gave birth to a mighty son, Garuda, who became the king of birds. He relieved his mother from Kadru's bondage by getting Amrita (nectar) from the heavens. However, in the process, the Nagas became his permanent enemies.

Uloopi: Once when Shree Arjun was bathing in river Ganga, Uloopi, the Naga princess, spotted him. She was so impressed by his personality that she dragged him to her kingdom under waters. Here, she proposed to Arjun who agreed to marry and live with her for a year. At the end of the stipulated time, Arjun left Uloopi. Years passed but Uloopi never saw Arjuna again. Meanwhile, she had befriended Babruvahan, Arjun's son by his other wife, Chitrangada. Uloopi was an expert warrior and taught all the skills to Babruvahan, who later became the king of Manipur. When Pandavas performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice, Babruvahan stopped the sacrificial horse when it entered his territory. According to the rules, he had to fight the army led by Arjun. During the fight, Arjun fell unconscious to an arrow from Babruvahan. Uloopi then rushed to the battlefield and summoned the magical gem of the Nagas and revived Arjun. Arjun was happy to reunite with his wife and to see that his son was an accomplished archer.

Karkotak: When King Nal lost his empire in a game of dice, he had to go into the jungle along with his wife Damayanti. However, he could not bear to see his wife suffering hardships and one night, he walked away, thinking that Damayanti will then be forced to return to her parent's home. Nal then roamed alone in the jungles. One day, he heard cries for help and saw a huge snake trapped in fire. Without caring for his own life, Nal saved the snake, who was none other than the divine Karkotak. The snake helped Nal to disguise himself so that he could win back his kingdom and reunite with his wife.