Nāgas in the Varāha Purāṇa

Nāga, “the serpent being”

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

Nāgas are the great serpent beings, the sons of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and his wife Kadrū. They live in Pātāla and appear throughout the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, from Śesha who bears the earth to Vāsuki and Takshaka.

The Varāha Purāṇa tells how their venom harmed people, how Brahmā spoke a śāpa (a curse) over them, and how he then gave them a home and a set of rules.

Origin

The Nāgas are the sons of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and his wife Kadrū. Kaśyapa is the grandson of Brahmā through Marīci. Kadrū is the daughter of Daksha.

The chief Nāgas are:

Their children filled the whole world.

The trouble the Nāgas caused

The Nāgas had curved bodies, cruel ways, sharp mouths and swelling venom. They came near people and animals at the mere sound or sight of them and burned them to ash in an instant. Every day countless people and animals were destroyed.

The afflicted people came before Brahmā and said:

“Deva-deva! Prabhu Brahmā! Protect us. Protect us from the fanged, huge-bodied serpents that the sons of Kadrū are guarding day and night. They reduce us to ash the moment they see us or hear us.”

“You created them, and they destroy us. Look at this calamity and act as is right.”

Brahmā’s śāpa

Brahmā called Vāsuki and the other chief serpents and spoke a śāpa over them:

“You are destroying my people every day. Therefore, in your next birth, you will face terrible destruction from your mother’s śāpa (mātṛ-śāpa, a curse). This will happen in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara.”

The plea of the Nāgas

The Nāgas fell at Brahmā‘s feet and said:

“Bhagavān Brahmā! You yourself made us crooked, gave us overflowing venom, sharp mouths and the habit of biting. Now, Acyuta, you must find a way for us!”

“Set a boundary for us and for humans. Make a rule. Make laws.”

Brahmā’s decree

Brahmā heard them and gave this order:

  1. Homes. The three realms Pātāla, Vitala and Harmya are given to the Nāgas as their lasting homes. They must go there now.
  2. Stay. They are to stay there for seven nights, enjoying pleasures and full prosperity.
  3. Rebirth. At the start of the Vaivasvata Manvantara they will be born again as sons of Kaśyapa Prajāpati. They will become jñātis (kinsmen) of the wise Garuḍa and of the devas.
  4. At that time. Some of their line will become food for Agni. The first ancestors, Vāsuki and the others, will not be touched by the śāpa.
  5. Rules for dealing with people. The Nāgas may bite and kill only those who truly harm them or do them wrong. People who travel with mantras, with oshadhis (healing herbs), or with Garuḍa-maṇḍala diagrams are righteous people, and through them the evil among the Nāgas will perish. Otherwise the Nāgas have nothing to fear.

Brahmā ended with a warning:

“If you break this rule, your destruction is certain.”

The Nāgas obey

The chief Nāgas were glad of this arrangement after the śāpa. They went joyfully to Pātāla, the world below, and enjoyed every pleasure there. They live in Pātāla to this day.

Pañcamī

All these events happened on a Pañcamī, the fifth lunar day. So Pañcamī is auspicious. It destroys all pāpa (sin) and is śubhaprada (a giver of good fortune).

How to keep it:

  • Keep a fast (niyama) and avoid sour things (pulupu).
  • Offer pūjā to the Nāgas with a milk abhisheka (a bath of poured milk).
  • This makes the Nāgas one’s friends (mitra).

The Nāgas in the order of the world

  • Ādiśesha, also called Ananta, is the couch of Bhagavān Vishṇu when he rests in yoga-nidrā (yogic sleep) on the milk-ocean.
  • Vāsuki is the churning rope in the Samudra-Mathana, the churning of the ocean.
  • Snakes are the ornaments of Bhagavān Śiva. They are his sacred thread, his arm-bracelets and his garland.
  • The dik-devatā (deva of a direction) of the lower direction is Ādiśesha. Brahmā gave him the adho-dik (the downward direction) in Chapter 29.

Sources

  • Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 24
  • Varāha Purāṇa, Chapter 29 (Ādiśesha as the deva of the lower direction)