It may seem unusual and difficult for some of us to relate to the entire religious activities of India. The history of this country is uneven at best, and this has all contributed in the from countries huge and tremendous religious diversity. For some of us who have come from the Monotheistic religion and believe in one God, who is all powerful can face a sort of dilemma, when in a country like India. There’s no sarcasm in my saying, but an appreciation to a culture that has been tried and tested and evolved with times. Where a guest is considered like a god and many gods and many ways to attain the spiritual goal. And in this journey of admiring my India for its many facets, Nag Panchami is one of the festivals that can be the perfect exemplification of allowing us to have a mirror view of the mega celebrations to worship a Snake who is still has not gained respect otherwise. This deadly venomous reptile has gained all his due respect in the land of Hindus.

Nag Panchami denotes the uniqueness of paying the due respect to the Snake god or Nag Devta on the fifth day of Shravan month (July/August) as per the Hindu calander, especially to the cobra snake.

Prior to the Aryans came down to invade the land , the snake worshipping was fairly widespread in the land, but Aryans later on gave this festival all the credit by incorporating it in the Hindu culture.
Lord Vishnu’s couch is the bejeweled by thousand-headed snake (Ananta Nag or Sesha Nag) and they have all the required zest to hold up the gigantic earth.

Lord Shiva adorns himself by wearing a snake in his neck as a necklace. An interesting tale goes like this ~ a farmer while tilling his land incidentally killed some young snake. The snake’s mom took revenge by biting all members of the farmer’s family, only sparing his daughter, as she was a worshiper of snakes. And this devotional act of the girl finally resulted in revival of her family from the dead!!!!!! Thus, on the day of Naag Panchami, tilling of land is forbidden. But the fact file says that snake worship is stemmed due to man’s natural instinct of fearing this deadly reptile.

Generally it’s the women who diligently carry on with the rituals of Nag Panchmi, as they all fast on this day, and in rural or the countryside area you can see images of snakes, which are drawn on walls of their houses with a mixture of cow dung, milk and black powder. The snakes are made happy by making offerings of milk, ghee, sweets, water and rice and devotees consider themselves lucky if snakes drink their offered milk.

In Rajasthan, Jodhpur is a place where you can view the grandeur at it’s own best. Various fairs and gatherings are made near to the temples and huge cloth effigies of the serpents are displayed.

This festival is also celebrated in other parts of India like in West Bengal and parts of Assam and Orissa, the snake deity worshipped on Nag Panchami is the goddess Manasa. In Kerala, huge crowds throng snake temples on this day to worship stone or metal icons of the cosmic serpent Ananta or Sesha.

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