Nāgas in the Vāmana Purāṇa

Nāga, “the serpent being”

Nāga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nāga.

The Vāmana Purāṇa, which also calls them pannagas and uragas (serpent beings), shows the Nāgas among the great hosts that stand with the devas. Bhagavān Śiva wears nāgas as his ornaments, Takshaka and Aśvatara among them. The pannagas rose with the devas when Vīrabhadra entered Daksha‘s yajña (fire ritual). The mighty pannagas are vāhanas of the eleven Rudras, and the Uragendras, the lords of the serpents, fought the daityas in the war against Andhaka. The Nāgas went with the ṛshis to Brahmaloka when Sūrya fell, the lord of the nāgas and Vāsuki gave the world the reed and the dūrvā grass, and the uragas served Kātyāyanī Devī on the Vindhya. They gave the two attendants Jaya and Mahājaya to Skanda, and Bhagavān Vishṇu named them in the blessing he spoke over Skanda. On the daśamī of the devas’ sleep the air-eating pannagas sleep, and the Nāgas are among those who worship Bhadreśvara and gain every good.

Bhagavān Śiva’s ornaments

In the rainy season Satī Devī asked Bhagavān Śiva to build a house on the mountain peak. Śiva answered that he had no wealth to build a house, and he named what he wore. His garment is a tiger skin. His sacred thread (upavīta) is the king of the serpents. The serpents Padma and Piṅgaḷa are his earrings. The venomous serpents Kambala and Dhanañjaya are his keyūras (armlets). The nāgas Aśvatara and Takshaka are the bracelets (kaṅkaṇas) on his right and left hands. And the great serpent (mahoraga) Nīla, glistening with the colour of collyrium, is his waist-cord.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 1

At Daksha’s yajña

When Vīrabhadra, lord of the gaṇas, had driven back Dharma and entered the yāgaśālā (the hall of the yajña), all who were there rose: the eight Vasus, the nine Grahas, the twelve Ādityas headed by Indra, the eleven Rudras, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the Siddhas, Gandharvas and Kiṃpurushas, the Pannagas, the Yakshas, the birds and the Cakradharas.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 4

In the war against Andhaka

The daitya Andhaka, son of Hiraṇyāksha, pleased Bhagavān Śiva by tapas and received the vara (a boon) that he could not be conquered or slain by devas, siddhas, ṛshis, pannagas and others. When he came near the peak of Meru, Devendra rode out on Airāvata with the dikpālas and the whole deva army. Pulastya Maharshi told Nārada the vāhanas of that army: the gandharvas, the mighty pannagas and the white bull-kings born of Surabhi are the vāhanas of the eleven Rudras, and the kinnaras ride on serpents (bhujaṅgas). On the daitya side, Dundubhi rode a great serpent (mahoraga).

In the battle, Hayamukha and the other daitya and dānava heroes met in single combat the mighty Sūrya, Agni, the Vasus and the Uragendras, the lords of the serpents. Then Andhaka struck with his arrows Candra, Sūrya and Vāyu, the Rudras, the Aśvins and the Vasus, the Sādhyas and the Nāgas, and every one who stood with weapons in hand, and made them flee the field.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 9–10

When Sūrya fell

Sūrya threw down the sky-city of the rākshasa Sukeśī, a devotee of Bhagavān Śiva. Tryambaka Mahādeva opened his third eye and looked at Sūrya, and at the mere touch of that fire Sūrya fell from the sky. On the counsel of the ṛshis he fell in the kshetra of Śrī Hari, between the rivers Varaṇā and Asī, and rolled again and again from one river to the other. Then the ṛshis, yakshas, rākshasas, nāgas, vidyādharas, apsarases, birds, bhūtas, pretas and all the others went together to Brahmaloka to make it known to Brahmā. Brahmā brought Bhagavān Śiva to Vārāṇasī, and Śiva touched Sūrya, named him Lola and seated him on his chariot.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 16

The sleep of the pannagas

When the month of Āshāḍha comes, Lakshmīpati, Bhagavān Vishṇu, sleeps on the bed of Śesha, and the devas sink into sleep one after another. When Sūrya enters Karkaṭa, the night of the devas begins, and from the pāḍyami (first lunar day) each sleeps on his own day: Brahmā, Viśvakarmā, Pārvatī Devī, Vināyaka, Yama-dharmarāja, Kumārasvāmī, Sūrya, Kātyāyanī and Mahālakshmī. On the daśamī (the tenth lunar day) the pannagas who live on air (vāyu-bhuk) sleep, and on the ekādaśī of the dark fortnight the Sādhyas. In this order the devas sleep in the month of Śrāvaṇa, and the rainy season begins.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17

The reed and the dūrvā grass

In the month of Āśvayuja, when the lotus was born from the navel of Jagannātha, the devatās too brought forth their own flowers and plants. From the lord of the nāgas came the clump of reeds (śara grass), and from the broad tail and back of Vāsuki the white and the black dūrvā grass. The plants born from each devatā became dear to that devatā.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 18

In the service of Kātyāyanī Devī

When Kātyāyanī Devī came forth from the tejas of the devas in the āśrama of Kātyāyana Maharshi, the devas gave her their weapons and ornaments, and Śesha gave her a necklace of serpent-jewels (sarpa-maṇi-hāra). When she climbed the highest peak of the Vindhya, resolved to slay the rākshasas, the devas, siddhas, uragas, vidyādharas, bhūtagaṇas and apsarases forgot their troubles and stayed in her service.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 19

The pūjā of Bhadreśvara

Bhagavān Śiva stood before Umā in his own form and told her that the clay image of Śaṅkara she had worshipped would from that day be famed in the world as Bhadreśvara. Devas, dānavas, gandharvas, yakshas, kiṃpurushas, nāgas, humans and others will worship it and gain all that is auspicious.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 25

Gifts and blessings for Skanda

When Kumāra was consecrated as leader of all the deva armies, Bhagavān Śiva gave him his chief gaṇas, and Brahmā and all the devas offered their own pramathas (attendants). The Nāgas gave him Jaya and Mahājaya.

Then Skanda bowed to Janārdana, and Bhagavān Vishṇu spoke the svastivācana (the recitation of blessings for well-being) over him, so that Skanda would have victory and Mahisha would be destroyed. In it he said: “May the Nāgas, the Garuḍas, the rivers, the lakes, the tīrthas, the holy kshetras, the oceans, the mighty bhūtagaṇas and their lords all be ever ready to give you well-being.” In the same blessing Dhruva guards the upward direction and Śesha the downward.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 31–32

Against the armies of Bali

When the dānava armies came to fight, with Maya in front, Bali in the middle and Kālanemi at the rear, Devarāja Indra mounted the chariot brought by Mātali, and the deva host set out on its own vāhanas: the Ādityas, Vasus, Yakshas, Rudras, Sādhyas, Viśvedevas and Aśvins, the Vidyādharas, Yakshas, Rākshasas and Pannagas, the Rājarshis, the Siddhas and the many bhūtagaṇas, some on elephants, some on horses, some in chariots, some on vimānas and bird-vāhanas. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu came, seated on Garuḍa, and joined them.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 47

On Mount Trikūṭa

Trikūṭa, the son of Mount Meru, full of every kind of gem, rose out of the Kshīra Sāgara (the ocean of milk), whose waves wash its smooth rocks. Gandharvas, kinnaras, apsarases, siddhas, cāraṇas, pannagas and vidyādharas serve that mountain with their wives. Pulastya Maharshi tells of this mountain at the opening of the account of Gajendra-moksha.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 58

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 4, 9–10, 16–19, 25, 31–32, 47, 58