Arrival of Shravan Maas(month) in Hindu Calendar, brings with it the season of festivals. Today is Nag Panchami, the festival of cobra.
Celebrated on the fifth day of Shravan maas of Hindu calendar, Nag Panchami is an Indian festival where Hindus, worship live Naga(cobra) at nearby ant hill or images or clay models of cobra.
Snake is regarded to be sacred and has divine qualities. Snake has great significane in most of the Indian religions.
According to the scriptures, Lord Krishna conquered Naga Kaliya and put an end to the evil deed on this day. Tradition says that Kathmandu valley used to be a vast lake. When human beings started to drain the lake to make space for settlements, Nagas became enraged. To protect themselves against the wrath of Nagas, people gave them certain areas as pilgrimage destination, thus restoring harmony in nature. According to other scriptures, a king used his tantric powers to force Nagas to return to the land and control the rains. The Nagas complied, but in recognition of their power to control the rains, the king established the Naga Panchami festival.
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| Clay models of cobra sold in market |
Wish you all Happy Nag Panchami
man I was scared opening this post .. I am so scared of those reptiles that even the snaps of them gives me goosebumps thankfully they are clay models :)
ReplyDeleteNice,Meghana It is particularly celebrated across Karnataka with fervour
ReplyDeleteHaha, true mysay i too am scared of them... This reminds me of a folk song in Kannada, which says, we worship stone snakes, but when we encounter with a real one, we kill it..
ReplyDeleteTrue Vijay, but these clay cobras for worship, I found for the first time here in Mumbai...
ReplyDeleteI didn't know all this. Great info.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Indrani...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed learning the history of this celebration.. The clay cobras are cute.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sallie...
ReplyDelete