Shesha- Hindu CreatureCreature · Beast"King of Serpents"

Born from Kadru

Shesha was born to the sage Kashyapa and Kadru, the mother of serpents. The Bhagavata Purana relates that he was disgusted by the wickedness of his serpent brothers and left them, retreating into the forests to perform extreme austerities, subsisting on air alone. Brahma, pleased with his devotion, appointed him to bear the worlds upon his hoods. Shesha descended beneath the earth, coiled himself at the base of creation, and has supported all the planets upon his thousand heads ever since. When he shifts, the earth trembles.

In the intervals between creation cycles, Vishnu reclines upon Shesha's coils in the Ocean of Milk. The thousand hoods spread above the sleeping god like a jeweled canopy, and Lakshmi sits at Vishnu's feet. At the end of each kalpa, Shesha's fiery breath destroys all creation, clearing the way for the next cycle.

Mortal Forms

When Vishnu descends to earth as an avatar, Shesha accompanies him. As Lakshmana, he served Rama during the fourteen-year forest exile and fought in the war against Ravana. As Balarama, he was Krishna's elder brother, wielding the plough and mace. At the end of Balarama's life, the Mahabharata records that a great white serpent departed from his mouth and returned to the cosmic ocean. The body fell. The serpent went home.