of the serpent is recognized the world over; this
festival is an ancient Indian tribute to its semidi-
vine power, as a being that moves between this
world and the powerful underworld.
On Nagapanchami, images of mythological
serpents such as Vasuki are worshipped and given
milk, considered a favored food of snakes (of
course, Indian villagers often offer milk to live
cobras on a daily basis). Figures of snakes may
be drawn on walls with cow dung or on boards
with red powder to be worshipped. Also, people
go to abandoned termite hills and other places
were snakes live to make offerings. Snake charm-
ers may be invited to perform on this day, and in
certain areas there are huge processions of men
(and some women) who handle cobras in fulfill-
ment of vows.
Further reading: Balaji Kundkur, The Cult of the Ser-
pent: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Its Manifestations and
Origins (Albany: State University of New York Press,
1983); Binod Chandra Sinha, Serpent Worship in Ancient
India (New Delhi: Books Today, 1979).
nagas
The term naga appears in different contexts in
Indian tradition. Its basic meaning is “serpent”
or “snake,” usually the cobra. NAGAPANCHAMI, for
instance, is a snake festival celebrated on panchami,
the fifth day of the lunar month of Shravana. The
nagakal in South India are “snake stones,” stone
images of cobras placed under PIPAL (ashvattha) or
neem trees. They are commonly worshipped by
women who desire to have offspring.
The snake or naga plays a very important role
in Indian folk religion. Villagers make shrines of
abandoned termite hills, where snakes take up
residence, give them offerings, and feed them
milk. In southwestern India people have a naga
shrine or grove in the corner of a garden. Most
often the snakes are seen as protective, but they
also connote immortality and fertility.
A divine, semidivine, or demonic naga is
associated with all the foremost personages and
divinities in the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu tradi-
tions. The BUDDHA was said to have been guarded
once by a semidivine serpent. The Jain TIRTHAN-
KARA (saint) PARSHVANATH is depicted in his ico-
nography protected by a huge multiheaded cobra
being, or naga. SHIVA, too, has a naga or serpent
around his neck as a necklace. VISHNU reclines
on the divine serpent Ananta or ADISHESHA on the
primordial MILK OCEAN. The huge serpent Vasuki
was used as a churning rope when the gods and
demons churned the Milk Ocean to get the nectar
of immortality. KRISHNA, when he was young, van-
quished the evil serpent Kaliya.
The term naga also denotes a category of
semidivine creatures, the top half human and the
bottom half snake, who guard precious gems and
ores underground, similar to dragons in some
Western mythology, but without their ferocity.
Occasionally, these nagas can take fully human
form; famous personages such as Nagarjuna are
said to be their descendants.
Myths usually place the half-human nagas
under the Earth, but they may also live under
water or in mountain caves. They are beauti-
ful and opulently attired. Their human heads
are overarched by cobra hoods emerging out
from the back of the neck. They have great
wisdom and superhuman powers and indulge
in pleasures that are the envy of the human
world. These demigods play an important role
in Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu traditions and are
frequently encountered in the mythology of all
three religions.Further reading: James Fergusson, Tree and Serpent
Worship (Delhi: Oriental Publishers, 1971); O. C.
Handa, Naga Cults and Traditions in the Western Hima-
laya (New Delhi: Indus, 2004); E. Washburn Hopkins,
Epic Mythology (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986); Jean
Philippe Vogel, Indian Serpent Lore or the Nagas in Hindu
Legend and Art (Varanasi: Prithivi Prakashan, 1972).K 300 nagas