Kathmandu. Nag Panchami festival is being celebrated on Tuesday as per tradition by worshipping snakes and pasting them at the main door of the house. This festival is celebrated every year on the day of Shravan Shukla Panchami.
There is a religious belief that by pasting a picture of a snake in this way, creatures such as snakes, snakes and scorpions will not harm the house throughout the year and will also protect it from the fear of fire, clouds and lightning, informed Prof. Dr. Devmani Bhattarai, a theologian and member of the Nepal Panchanga Nirikh Samiti.
There are snakes in every house. Dr. Bhattarai said that the tradition of worshiping snakes has been continued even in the religious belief that if the snake living under the foundation of the house gets angry, the foundation of the house will collapse.
The practice of considering snakes as Vishnu and Shiva has been around since ancient Vedic times. He mentioned that Lord Shiva wears a garland of snakes and Lord Vishnu sleeps on the bed of Shesnag under a canopy of phloem, so both gods are considered as snakes.
Lord Ganesha, who was given the right to be worshipped first, has a snake in one hand. Lakshman, brother of Lord Ramchandra, who was born as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and Balaram, brother of Krishna, are also considered as incarnations of Shesnag. The story of both of them taking birth to help Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, who were born as incarnations of Lord Vishnu to destroy the wicked and protect the righteous is mentioned in various Puranas.
The story of Lord Krishna suppressing Kali Naga in his childhood is described in various Puranas. The statue of Buddha, who was born as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, has a snake-shaped crown on his head. Matsyendranath is garlanded with a Karkotak snake on his neck. Jain Tirthankaras also have snake-shaped crowns on their heads.
The story of Pandu’s son Arjun and Chandragupta II marrying a snake girl is mentioned in the scriptures. The belief that Lakshmi resides in the house where the snake is worshipped has been in our society since ancient times, Dr. Bhattarai said.
There are various legends about how and why Nag Panchami was celebrated. One of the famous legends is as follows. A farmer found three baby snakes while digging his field and killed them. The mother of the children, when she came looking for them, saw that all her children were dead and became angry with the farmer. The snake, who was furious, killed the farmer immediately, but she could not get rid of her anger, so she went to the farmer’s house and killed his wife and two sons.
By chance, the farmer’s daughter was outside the house, so she managed to escape. The snake also found the farmer’s daughter on the road and tried to kill her. After the farmer’s daughter pleaded with him in many ways, saying, “Don’t kill me, I will worship you and give you milk to drink,” the serpent mercifully left the farmer’s daughter.
The farmer’s daughter, who was happy to be saved from death, worshipped the serpent with a special treatment and even gave her milk to drink in a bowl. When the farmer’s daughter’s prayer pleased the serpent, saying, “I am pleased with your devotion, I ask for a boon,” she seized the opportunity and asked for a boon to give life to my parents and brothers as well.
The serpent, who was pleased, said, “Oh my God!” and saved the farmer’s family. Since the day the serpent saved the farmer’s family was the Panchami of the full moon of Shravan, that is, today, the tradition of worshipping serpents and placing them in the house has been in place since then, informed religious scholar Prada Bhattarai.
Guru Gorakhnath performed penance for twelve years sitting on the seat of nine snakes and since the rain did not fall when he pressed the snakes, Gorakhnath’s guru Matsyendranath was called to Nepal. The scriptures also mention that after the Guru arrived, Gorakhnath got up and became free from snakes and rained down.
The most valuable gem in the world is worn on the head by snakes. Snakes love the fragrance and music of Shrikhand. It is also believed that snakes that live in holes in the summer come out on the fifth day of Shravan Shukla, i.e. today, due to the coolness of the rain.
Although there are twelve names of snakes, there is a tradition from Vedic times to worship eight snakes of eight clans. On this day, eight snakes, namely Ananta, Vasuki, Padma, Mahapadma, Takshak, Kulir, Karkat and Shankha, are worshipped by Brahmin priests and hung above the doors of houses. It is believed that on this day, after placing a snake in the house, one should not cultivate the fields and should not kill snakes and other crawling animals.
Today, special worship is performed at Nagdaha, Kunda and Nag places across the country, including Nagpokhari and Toudaha in Kathmandu, Siddha Pokhari in Bhaktapur, and offerings of cow’s milk, Akshata, Dubo, Kheer and roti are offered in honor of the snake.
It is believed that the sages established the ritual of worshiping the Naga caste after scientifically confirming that snakes, snakes and other creatures exploit the poisonous substances present in nature and prevent humans and other races from being affected by the poisonous substances. After Nag Panchami, the season of festivals of Vedic Sanatani Hindu religion begins. (RSS)