Naga Panchami: The Day of Serpent God

By Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Nepalis are religious people; they have been worshipping water, fire, sun, animals, birds and reptiles and so on almost everybody and everything; so do they worship Naga: the Serpent God on the day called Naga Panchami. This day falls on the fifth day of the bright fortnight in the month called Shrawan (July-August) in the Vikram calendar. Nepalis believe that Nagas are rain gods that bring water. So, they are the guardians of water: one of the five life-supporting elements such as ether, light, air, water and earth.

One day before the Naga Panchami, mom and I went to Ason, Kathmandu to buy hand-printed Naga God. I was surprised to see so many varieties of Naga gods printed in simple papers and glossy papers. Some are traditional hand-printed; others are machine-printed. We chose a simple small-sized hand-printed Naga God.

Next morning, my father standing on a chair pasted the paper-Naga God on the lintel of the main entrance to the house. First, he cleaned the area with the holy water, and then smeared it with cow dung, as it is believed to be the holy item. He pasted the paper Naga God on the cow dung. On the top of the paper Naga God, he put a small lump of cow dung, and on it he inserted a few fresh green auspicious grass called ‘dubo’. Thereafter, he offered barely, sesame seeds, milk, and homemade butter called ‘gheu’ and honey altogether five elements. This is a special offering of five elements made to Naga God only. We believe that the paper Naga god pasted on the beam of the main entrance protects the house from lighting and fire for a year.

My mother stay away from the offerings my father made to Naga God for some unknown reasons. Later, I found out that it is not auspicious for women to be near Naga God. Expectant mothers even abstain from visiting the places where Nagas are supposed to be dwelling believing that such a visit might cause abortion.

On this day, an annual religious festival is held at Taudaha: about five kilometers south of Kathmandu. We believe that a Naga God called Karkot Naga dwells there with other serpents. Most of the visitors make offerings to the Naga God in the lake called Taudaha.

A legend has it that one day while walking to search out his teacher Matsyendranath, Gorkhanath: a yogi happened to be in the company of a few people boozing with each other. In the course of chatting, one of them jokingly offered Gorkhanath a bowl of fermented-rice drink. Gorkhanath took it lightly and drink it heartily. Thus, unknowingly Gorkhanath joined the company of boozers.

Seeing how easily Gorkhanath drank the bowl of fermented-rice drink, one of the boozers invited him to make a bet on drinking the whole pitcher of it the woman was serving from a thatched-shed. Accepting the bet, Gorkhanath drank one bowl after another; however, the drink seemed never ending in the clay pitcher. Suspecting something going not right in the pitcher, Gorkhanath used his telepathic vision to see what was going on in it. He noticed that the coiled-nine serpents used as the base of the clay pitcher were perennially supplying the drink. Filled with anger at the way he had been tricked, Gorkhanath grabbed all nine Nagas and made them his cushion and sat on them meditating on his guru Matsyendranath.

Nagas were the rain gods but they were under the control of Gorkhanath. Dry spell has continued one year after another for 12 years. Drought has spoiled crops and cause short supply of water. People felt the shortage of food and water. So, the then-ruler invited all famous Tantriks of that time to ascertain the causes of dry spell for such a long time.

Tantriks found out that Gorkhanath had been sitting on the coiled-nine Nagas preventing them from causing rains in Nepal. They also found that Nagas could be released only when Gorkhanath voluntarily would get up. He would do so if he would see his guru. So, Tantriks advised the ruler to bring his guru Matsyendranath from Kamarupa: modern day Assam in India.

The ruler of Bhaktapur city-state, the Tantrik of Kantipur city-state and the porter of Lalitpur city-city went to Kamarupa and brought Matsyendranath to Nepal using the great skill of Tantrik and the power of the ruler and the stamina of the porter. As soon as Gorkhanath noticed Matsyendranath was in Nepal, he got up to salute him releasing the coil of nine Nagas causing instant rains.

Nagas were the tutelary gods of Licchavis that ruled Nepal for about 500 years from 400 to 800 in the Gregorian calendar. Probably they set the tradition of worshipping Nagas, and celebrating Naga Panchami as the day dedicated to Nagas. In addition, they decorated temple doors, water spouts and other important religious and social places with carved wooden, stone and metallic images of Nagas. Therefore, Nagas occupy a special domain of the Nepalese life.

Nagas occupy special positions along with Garuda on the Toranas placed as decorative elements over the doorways to temples. Garuda is a mythical bird with a human head supposed to be a cousin of Nagas. A myth has it that Nagas and Garuda were the children of the same father but from different mothers. The mother of Nagas played a trick on Garuda’s mother and made her a life-long slave. When Garuda came of age and understood the dirty trick played by the unscrupulous stepmother, he fought with the stepbrothers: Nagas.  The fight went on for several years until Lord Vishnu intervened in their fight and negotiated for peace. Lord Vishnu offered the honor to be his steed to Garuda in return for wearing a Naga round his neck as a symbol of reconciliation between Garuda and Nagas. So, we see Garuda sitting on a stone platform with his hands clasped at the chest at the main entrance to every temple to Lord Vishnu. We believe that the stone image of Garuda at the Changu Narayan temple perspires every year on the festival of Naga Panchami.

Mythically, Nagas represent the force of whirlwinds on earth whereas Garuda represents the sky that controls such turbulence. Thus, Garuda and Nagas together balance the earth’s environment. So, we see Garuda and Nagas together on all Toranas of both the Hindu and Buddhist temples.

Religiously, Nagas are the companions of various gods such as Shiva and Vishnu, Bhairav and Ganesh. The Supreme Hindu God, Shiva wears Nagas on his head, neck and arms. Another prominent Hindu God, Vishnu loves to lie on the coil of braided-nine Nagas floating on water. Tantric God called Bhairav popularly believed to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva also wears a Naga round his neck. Elephant-headed God Ganesh wears a Naga round his neck as a sacred thread.

Nagas also function as the part of chariot of Lord Matsyendranath. Kakort Naga is believed to be the beam that carries the whole load of the chariot in which Matsyendranath travels for a month or even two every year. Similarly, the ropes used for pulling the chariot represent other Nagas.

Newars believe that the guardian God called Kuber is the incarnation of Basuki Naga. So, they think that Nagas dwell in their treasury room. The long key of their traditional lock represents Basuki Naga. Even today, Newars follow the tradition of welcoming a newly wedded bride to the house with the turnover ceremony of the key. This is done: the mother-in-law holding one end of the key and the bride another end enters the house.

Newars never hurt any snake appearing in their house. They think snake is a divinity and revere such a divine guest lighting an incense stick to give fragrant smell. Such a divine guest crawls to its destination without harming anybody.

The traditional belief of Newars is that a pitcher filled with home-brewed liquor placed on a coil of Nagas yields never ending quantity of it until they move it from such a cushion. So, they make a coiled cushion of rice straw; then they invoke Nagas to it and then place a liquor pitcher on it. This is usually done at the time of holding a large feast that requires a good quantity of such alcoholic beverage.

Nagas also possess power of healing different ailments. Newars make offerings to three different Naga gods for healing three different ailments. If a person has a burning pain then they make offerings to Mi (fire) Naga. When a person has blisters with inflammation on his/her body, then they make offerings to Jal (water) Naga. In addition, such a patient gets an artist draw four small lions facing to the blisters and enclosing the inflamed area. They believe that such lions gobble down the blisters. If a person suffers from itchy pimples they worship Ghori Naga for relief.

So, Nepalis revere Nagas once a year on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Shrawan (July-August) in the Vikram calendar performing various religious activities following the tradition.

Note: This year’s Naga Panchami is on August 06.