Nagas- Hindu RaceRace"Serpent People"

Children of Kadru

The Nagas descend from the sage Kashyapa and his wife Kadru, one of the daughters of Daksha. Kadru wished for a thousand powerful serpent sons, and from her eggs emerged the primordial Nagas: Shesha, who would support the universe on his coils; Vasuki, who would serve as the churning rope for the ocean of milk; and Takshaka, the fierce king who would one day kill King Parikshit. This genealogy makes the Nagas cousins to the Garudas, descended from Kadru's sister Vinata.

The enmity between serpent and eagle began with a wager. The two sisters bet on the color of the celestial horse Uchchaihshravas. Kadru, about to lose, commanded her serpent sons to cling to the horse's tail to appear as black hairs, winning through deception. Vinata and her sons were condemned to servitude under Kadru. Garuda, Vinata's mighty son, won freedom for his mother by fetching Amrita for the Nagas, but Indra snatched it back before they could drink. Garuda became the serpents' eternal predator, the eagle endlessly hunting and devouring Nagas as payment for the ancestral fraud.

Patala

The Nagas dwell in Patala, the netherworld realm beneath the earth. Their kingdom, called Bhogavati, surpasses earthly kingdoms in splendor. Palaces gleam with gems embedded in their walls. The nagamani, a luminous gem borne on the hood of serpent kings, illuminates their realm more brightly than sun or moon. The Bhagavata Purana describes Bhogavati's streets as paved with precious stones, its gardens fragrant with divine flowers. Human heroes who visit find opulence beyond imagination, generous hosts, and great peril should they violate Naga customs.

Shesha

The firstborn of the Nagas is Shesha, also called Ananta, "the endless." When the other Nagas quarreled ceaselessly among themselves, Shesha withdrew from their company and performed such intense austerities that Brahma himself appeared and appointed him to bear the world upon his heads. He has borne this burden without complaint since the beginning of time, his thousand hoods spread as a canopy above the universe.

Vishnu reclines upon Shesha's coils in the cosmic Ocean of Milk between world ages. When Vishnu incarnates on earth, Shesha accompanies him: as Lakshmana beside Rama, as Balarama beside Krishna. At the end of time, when all creation dissolves, Shesha's venom will consume the universe in fire. He alone will remain to support Vishnu through the cosmic night until the next creation begins.

The Churning

Vasuki, king of the Nagas, was wrapped around Mount Mandara during the Samudra Manthan. The gods and demons pulled him back and forth to churn the cosmic ocean, stretching his body to enormous length. He vomited the deadly poison Halahala from his mouths, which threatened to destroy the universe until Shiva swallowed it. Vasuki's agony made the churning possible, producing the Amrita, Lakshmi, and countless treasures from the depths.

Shiva wears Vasuki around his neck afterward, the serpent king coiled at the throat of the great ascetic.

The Sarpa Satra

The Mahabharata's Adi Parva tells how Takshaka, king of serpents, killed King Parikshit with his bite, revenge for the burning of the Khandava forest by Arjuna and Krishna, which destroyed the homes and families of many Nagas. Parikshit's son Janamejaya performed the Sarpa Satra, a terrible sacrifice designed to draw all serpents into the flames and exterminate the entire race. Snakes streamed from all directions, drawn by the ritual's power, and fell by the thousands into the fire.

The sage Astika saved them. His mother Manasa was a Naga princess, his father the brahmin Jaratkaru. Born for this purpose, Astika appeared before Janamejaya's court and spoke with such eloquence that the king granted him a boon. Astika asked that the sacrifice be stopped. The fires went out. The surviving Nagas were saved, though their numbers had been terribly reduced.

In the Krishna cycle, the Naga Kaliya poisoned the Yamuna River with his venom, killing birds and animals along its banks. The child Krishna leapt into the river, subdued Kaliya by dancing on his many hoods, and forced him to leave for the ocean.

Arjuna married the Naga princess Ulupi during his years of exile, as told in the Adi Parva. Their son Iravan fought and died at Kurukshetra. Ulupi later revived Arjuna's son Babhruvahana using the nagamani gem, the serpents' power over life and death exercised for love.

Naga Worship

Naga Panchami falls during the monsoon season, when devotees offer milk to serpents, both live snakes and carved images, and pray for protection from snakebite and blessings of rain. Women seek the Nagas' blessings for children and family prosperity.

Cobras often inhabit termite mounds, and these anthills become natural shrines where devotees make offerings of milk, turmeric, and flowers. Stone Naga images, showing multiple serpent hoods rising behind a central figure, appear in temples, under sacred trees, and at water bodies throughout India. In Kerala, virtually every ancestral home maintains a sarpa kavu, a serpent grove where Nagas are propitiated with elaborate rituals including the Nagamandala, a night-long ceremony of sacred drawings, drumming, and spirit possession.