Naga Panchami

This day is dedicated for snakes. Naga Panchami falls on the 5th day of the waxing moon in the month of Shravan (July-August). This is the time when serpents invariably come out of their holes that get filled with rain water. The snakes seek shelter in gardens and in houses. India has variety of snakes and thousands of people die every by snake bites. Incidently the festival falls during rainy season.


People belived that this is the day when Lord Krishna over powered the Serpent Kaliya and saved the people from drinking the poisonous water. In another version it is said that after creating earth, Lord Vishnu rested on the thousand headed Shesh Nag Anantha on this day. It is an age old religious belief that serpents are loved and blessed by Lord Siva. He always wears them around his neck. So Snakes are dear to the Gods.


In south India people make images of the snakes as part of their snake worship. The Vedic and yoga concepts say that snakes resemble the cord of a human being. There are snake temples in our country with idols of snake gods. Snakes are worshipped and fed with milk and turmeric powder on this day. In these temples cobras are also reared and live snakes are worshipped on Nag Panchami day. This dimension of Nag Panchami festival is vast and diverse.

Special prayers and poojas instill a great awareness among the people to be cautious against poisonous snakes. At the same time it reminds all not to killsnakes as they are the friends of farmers.

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