Kashyapa wed Kadru, one of Daksha's daughters, and from their union sprang a thousand serpents — the Nagas who inhabit Patala, with Shesha the eldest, Vasuki the king, and Takshaka the most wrathful among them.
Balarama descended to earth as an incarnation of Shesha, the cosmic serpent upon whom Vishnu reclines, born as Krishna's elder brother to accompany the eighth avatar through his earthly life.
Lakshmana is considered an incarnation of Shesha, the cosmic serpent on whom Vishnu reclines. He serves Rama as Shesha eternally serves Vishnu in Vaikuntha.
Shesha bears Prithvi upon one of his thousand hoods, dwelling beneath all worlds in Patala, his coils the foundation upon which creation rests.
Vishnu reclines upon the cosmic serpent Shesha, who serves as his couch in the Ocean of Milk, coiling beneath the preserver during cosmic slumber between creation cycles.
The Nagas are a race of divine serpent beings. Shesha (Ananta) and Vasuki are the greatest among them — Shesha serves as Vishnu's cosmic couch, Vasuki as the churning rope at the Ocean of Milk and the serpent adorning Shiva's neck.
Vaikuntha is the eternal abode of Vishnu, where Lakshmi and Shesha attend the supreme preserver.
Shesha, repulsed by the wickedness of his serpent brothers, left Kadru's brood and undertook fierce penance, until Brahma, pleased by his devotion, charged him with bearing the earth steadily upon his hoods.
Shesha, the thousand-headed cosmic serpent, floats within the Kshira Sagara, his coils forming the bed upon which Vishnu reclines in eternal rest. The serpent remains when all else dissolves, supporting the Preserver through cycles of creation.
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