Nagas

Origins and Early Evidence

Serpent reverence in the subcontinent predates any systematized religious record. Archaeological finds from Indus Valley Civilization sites (c. 2600–1900 BCE), including seals and figurines bearing serpent motifs, are often cited as early evidence of snake veneration, though direct continuity between these images and later Naga theology cannot be established with certainty and remains a matter of scholarly inference rather than documented fact. A distinct and later devotional tradition is that of naga stones (nagakal), carved memorial slabs depicting intertwined serpents, widespread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh from roughly the early medieval period onward, typically installed near village boundaries, temples, or sacred trees and still actively worshipped, especially by women seeking fertility or family wellbeing.

Nagas in Hindu Mythology and Textual Tradition

Across the epics and Puranas, Nagas appear as a distinct semi-divine species — alongside devas, asuras, and gandharvas — typically able to assume human or serpent form and associated with subterranean wealth and the realm of Patala. Shesha, also called Ananta, is described as king of the Nagas, on whose coils Vishnu reclines in the cosmic ocean between cycles of creation. Vasuki serves as the churning rope wound around Mount Mandara in the Samudra Manthan myth, in which devas and asuras churn the cosmic ocean to produce the nectar of immortality. Takshaka, a Naga king in the Mahabharata, kills King Parikshit with his bite, prompting Parikshit's son Janamejaya to hold a great snake-sacrifice (sarpa satra) aimed at exterminating the Naga race — a rite halted, in the narrative, through the intercession of the sage Astika, whose mother was herself a Naga princess. The episode is often read as reflecting an underlying tension, and eventual accommodation, between Vedic Brahmanical religion and older serpent-cult traditions it absorbed. Manasa, principally venerated in Bengal, Assam, and Odisha as goddess of snakes and protector against snakebite, is the subject of the Manasamangal literature composed in Bengali from roughly the 13th century onward, recounting her conflict-laden struggle for recognition as a goddess against the merchant Chand Sadagar.

Regional Traditions of Naga Worship

In Kashmir, Nagas are central to the region's own foundational legend, recorded in the medieval Sanskrit Nilamata Purana and later the Rajatarangini: the valley is said to have originally been a lake, Satisar, inhabited by Nagas, drained by the sage Kashyapa to create habitable land, with local Naga spirits such as Nila Naga, tied to the spring at Vernag, continuing to be venerated at springs across the valley; the place-name Anantnag ('spring of Ananta Naga') preserves this association. In Kerala, Naga worship survives in sarpa kavu, small sacred groves traditionally maintained within family compounds, especially among Nair households, where Naga images are installed among protected trees and undergrowth and periodic rituals — including the serpent-possession dance sarpam thullal — are performed for fertility and protection. In Bengal, Assam, and Odisha, Manasa Puja is observed, especially during the monsoon month of Shravana, when the risk of snakebite traditionally rises.

Naga Panchami

Observed on the fifth day (panchami) of the bright half of Shravana, typically falling in July or August, Naga Panchami involves offerings of milk to serpent images, and in some regions live snakes brought by snake-charmers for ritual veneration before release — a practice increasingly restricted in recent decades by Indian wildlife-protection authorities on animal-welfare grounds. The festival is widely understood as agricultural in origin, tied to the monsoon and to the Nagas' association with rainfall and soil fertility, though regional variation in date and custom is considerable.

Nagas in Buddhism and Jainism

In Buddhist tradition, the naga Mucalinda shelters the newly enlightened Buddha from a storm by coiling around him and spreading his hood overhead, an episode widely depicted in Southeast Asian Buddhist art, especially in Cambodia and Thailand. Nagas also feature as guardians of scripture in later Mahayana legend: the philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 2nd–3rd century CE) is said in devotional hagiography, rather than historical record, to have retrieved the Prajnaparamita sutras from the Naga realm. In Jainism, Nagas (nagakumaras) are classed among the bhavanavasi order of demigods and frequently appear as protective attendants of the Tirthankaras, most famously the serpent hood shielding Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara. Naga iconography also traveled with Hindu-Buddhist cultural influence into Southeast Asia, remaining a prominent motif in Cambodian, Thai, and Lao temple architecture, including the balustrades of Angkor Wat, whose causeways are lined with sculpted Naga forms and whose galleries depict the Samudra Manthan churning myth directly derived from the Vasuki narrative.

Related and Distinct Usages

Separately from serpent theology, the grammarian Patanjali, author of the Mahabhashya commentary on Panini's Sanskrit grammar, is in some later devotional traditions identified with Shesha incarnate, reflected in iconography that depicts him with a serpent's lower body; scholars note that this Patanjali may or may not be the same figure credited with the Yoga Sutras, a long-debated question of authorship independent of the Naga association. The word 'Naga' is also applied, unrelated to serpent worship, to militant ascetic orders (Naga sadhus) within Hindu monasticism, particularly the Dashanami and Vaishnava akhara traditions — a usage sharing only the word with the serpent deities discussed here, not derived from them. In modern practice, enforcement of India's Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, has increasingly curtailed the use of captured snakes in Naga Panchami rituals, a change felt particularly at Battis Shirala in Maharashtra, a town historically associated with large-scale live-cobra handling during the festival.