Śaṅkhapāla

Śaṅkhapāla · śaṅkha-pāla, “the guardian of the conch”

Śaṅkhapāla is one of the great nāgas (divine serpents). The Agni Purāṇa names him among the eight best of the nāgas, together with Śesha, Vāsuki, Takshaka, Karkoṭaka, Padma, Mahāpadma and Kulika, and counts him among the seven nāgas who are lords of the days of the week. The rising of Kulika, the time forbidden for every work, is reckoned beside him and Mahāpadma.

He is honoured in the pūjā of the Devī. In the pūjā of Tvaritā Devī, which Agni Deva teaches, Śaṅkhapāla is one of the eight nāgas who are her ornaments, and he is worshipped with his own mantra.

The eight great nāgas

Agni Deva, teaching the marks of serpents, begins with the origin of the nāgas. Śesha, Vāsuki, Takshaka, Karkoṭaka, Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkhapāla and Kulika: these eight are the best of the nāgas. Of them, two are brāhmaṇas, two kshatriyas, two vaiśyas and two śūdras, and the nāgas of these four varṇas have, in order, 1,000, 800, 500 and 300 hoods. In their vaṃśa (line) five hundred nāgas were born, and those born from them are countless.

The seven nāgas beginning with Śesha are, in order, the lords of the weekdays beginning with Sunday, by day and by night, and each rises on his own weekday. Kulika, the eighth, rises at the junction of all of them, or together with Mahāpadma and Śaṅkhapāla. By another view, Kulika’s rising falls in the two ghaṭikās between Mahāpadma and Śaṅkhapāla. That time, kulikodaya, is forbidden for every work, and above all inauspicious for a serpent’s bite.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 294

Ornament of Tvaritā Devī

Agni Deva teaches the knowledge of Tvaritā Devī. With her mantra and with nyāsa, the worshipper meditates on the Devī, two-armed or eight-armed, and worships her on her siṃhāsana (throne), with her aṅgas, with Gāyatrī and Praṇītā Devī, with the Śaktis on the eight petals, and with Jaya, Vijaya and Kiṅkara at the door. Then the eight nāgas who are the ornaments of the Devī are worshipped, each with his name. Śaṅkhapāla is worshipped with the mantra “śaṅkhapālāya vaushaṭ”, together with Ananta (“anantāya namaḥ svāhā”), Kulika (“kulikāya namaḥ svadhā”), Vāsuki (“vāsukirājāya svāhā”), Takshaka (“takshakāya vashaṭ”), Mahāpadma (“mahāpadmāya namaḥ”), Karkoṭa (“karkoṭanāgāya svāhā”) and Padma (“padmāya namaḥ phaṭ”).

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 314

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 294, 314