Nāgaloka is the vast realm of the nāgas beneath the earth. Great nāga kings such as Vāsuki rule it, and the house of Airāvata, among others, lives there. It cannot be reached by ordinary travel. The Aśvamedhika Parva of the Mahābhārata describes it in the account of the ṛshi Uttaṅka, who went down to Nāgaloka to win back the jewelled earrings (maṇi-kuṇḍalas) of Madayantī.

A realm reached only by extraordinary means

Uttaṅka was following the nāga who had stolen the divine kuṇḍalas (earrings) into an anthill. He began to dig toward it with only a wooden stick. Indra came before him in the form of a brāhmaṇa and told him plainly that the task could not be done this way, because Nāgaloka lay thousands of yojanas away. Then Indra joined his own vajrāstra (weapon of the vajra) to Uttaṅka’s digging stick. The earth split open and gave a true path. The power of the vajra alone was enough to break the boundary between the world above and the realm of the nāgas below.

Description of the realm

Uttaṅka entered by this path made by the vajra. He saw a Nāgaloka of great size and splendour, stretching over a thousand yojanas. The Mahābhārata records these main features:

Golden ramparts (prākāra-samudāya) of great beauty, decorated everywhere with divine gems and pearls.
Wells with crystal steps (sphaṭika steps), and rivers of perfectly clear water flowing through the realm.
Groves full of birds: countless trees of many kinds, with birds of every sort living in them.
A great gateway of the realm, five yojanas wide and a hundred yojanas long.

Faced with a realm of this size, Uttaṅka lost hope for a time (dīnatā, dejection). He could not see how he would find and take back the stolen kuṇḍalas in so vast a place.

Rulers and inhabitants

Many nāga families live in Nāgaloka. The house of Airāvata is among the first of them. Airāvata’s son was the very serpent who stole Uttaṅka’s kuṇḍalas. Vāsuki is named here as presiding, together with the other nāgas, over a household that was thrown into confusion when Uttaṅka came. Elsewhere in the Mahābhārata Vāsuki is the nāgarāja (king of the nāgas) who served as the churning rope in the Samudramanthana (the churning of the ocean), and who guided the nāgas in the time of the sarpa-yāga of Janamejaya.

The smoke and the nāgas’ submission

Bhagavān Agni, in the form of a horse, guided Uttaṅka. He revealed himself as “the guru of your guru”. He was the very deva whom Uttaṅka had faithfully worshipped on behalf of Gautama. Uttaṅka blew breath into the body of the horse. A thick and terrible smoke rose from its pores and filled the whole of Nāgaloka, so that nothing could be seen anywhere in the realm.

A cry of alarm (hāhākāra) rose first in the house of Airāvata, and then in the houses of Vāsuki and the other nāgas. Every building, wrapped in smoke, became as dark as a snow-covered forest, with no light anywhere.

The smoke stung their eyes and the heat of the fire tormented them. The nāgas, with the old and the young at the front, came before Uttaṅka. They honoured him according to vidhi (the proper rule) and begged him to be prasanna (gracious). When he was pleased, they offered him pādya (water for the feet) and arghya (the water offering). The pannagas (serpents) returned the maṇi-kuṇḍalas to him with full honour. Uttaṅka then walked round Agni in pradakshiṇā (a respectful circling) and left the realm by the same path.

Place in the worlds

The Aśvamedhika Parva shows Nāgaloka as a realm of golden walls and gems, with wells of crystal, clear rivers and birdsong. It lies below the earth. It can be reached only through an opening in the ground made by the vajra. Nāga kings such as Vāsuki rule it.

Sources

Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 58