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          Nag-Mantra                         The Legends   

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The prominent Cobra snakes mentioned in the Puranas are Anant, Vasuki, Shesh, Padma, Kanwal, Karkotak, Kalia, Aswatar, Takshak, Sankhpal, Dhritarashtra and Pingal. As per the historians,these were not the snakes but the powerful Naga Kings.

The five types of snakes worshipped on this day are- Anant,Vasuki,Takshak,Karkotan and Pingal.

People observe fast and offer milk and silver jewelry to the Cobras to protect them from all evils This festival is to celebrate the day of lord Krishna's victory over the snake Kalia.

On this auspiceous day ,villagers put up swings and enjoy themselves.The brides visit their parents on this occasion.

In this period the snake holes fill up with rain water and hence the serpents come out of it and take a  shelter in shrubs,gardens and in the nearby houses.

Some of them are caught trickyly by the snake charmers who then remove their poisonous bags.Such harmless snakes are brought in the residential areas where people can worship them.Also clay images and printouts of snakes are sold in the market on the day of Nagpanchami.

People buy such images and worship at home by offering  milk and durva(thin grass blades).The next day Uttar Pooja is performed and the snake image is flown in a river,ocean,pond or kept in dense shrubs.

As per the tradition Nagpanchami pooja is performed by the people who worship  Ganapati on Ganesh Chaturthi.

                             The Legends

1) Once Guru Gorakhnath while passing through his village saw a woman praying before a cobra idol made up of clay. He transformed it into a living snake and told her not to be afraid of snakes.

Since then the villagers of Baltis Shirale and its neighbouring areas worship the snakes. Guru Gorakhnath's temple is on a nearby hillock.

2) In ancient India, there lived a community called "Nagas" with highly developed culture. Nagas were the worshippers of snakes and the Indus Valley civilisation of 3000 B.C. provides ample proof.There culture was  wide-spread in India even before the arrival of Aryans.

3) Kashyap,the son of Lord Brahma had four wives and the third wife,called,Kadroo,gave birth to Nagas.Hence the snake is also called as 'Kadrooja'.

4) In Jainism and Buddhism snake is regarded as sacred with divine qualities.It is believed that a Cobra snake saved the life of Buddha and another protected the Jain Muni Parshwanath.

In support of this belief, it is seen a huge serpent carved above the head of the statue of Muni Parshwanath. In medieval India figures of snakes were carved or painted on the walls of many Hindu temples.

Later on,the Naga culture got incorporated into Hinduism and the Indo-Aryans adopted many of the snake deities of the Nagas.

The thousand-headed Shesh Nag,the couch of Lord Vishnu,symbolises eternity.Hindus believe in the immortality of the snake because of its habit of sloughing its skin.As such eternity in Hinduism is often represented by a serpent eating its own tail.

Lord Shiva,who loved and blessed the snakes,always wears them as ornamentation around his neck.Most of the festivals that fall in the month of Shravan are celebrated in honour of Lord Shiva.

Shiva's blessings are sought by devotees, and along with the Lord, snakes are also worshiped. Particularly on the Nag-Panchami day live cobras or their pictures are revered and religious rights are performed to seek their good will.

To seek immunity from snake bites, they are given a bath with milk, haldi-kumkum is applied on the heads and milk and rice are offered as 'Naivedya'. The Brahmin who is called to do the religious ritual is given 'Dakshina',like silver or gold coins, a cow and nowdays also money in cash.

                              
               The Snake and the Farmer

Once a farmer was ploughing his field,when accidently an anthill got destroyed with the plough,killing the young snakes which were hiding in it.When the mother snake  returned,she found the young ones cut into pieces.She became irate and understood that the farmer had killed them. She decided to take the revenge.

At night when the farmer was sleeping with his family, the angry snake rushed in and began to bite all of them. Later,the snake decided to bite the farmer's daughter who had gone out.

Soon the snake found and  recognized her as the farmer’s eldest daughter.The snake rushed to bite her, but then saw the young girl worshipping the snake. She had offered them food and grass blades(durva) and was praying with great devotion.

She prayed-'Oh snake god,accept my worship. Look after my people at home and in my father-in-law’s house. Do not bite anyone. Forgive any fault we may have committed unknowingly.

With this the snake was pleased and came before the girl. She opened her eyes and got frightened at the sight of the snake. But the snake said, “Don’t be afraid. I shall not bite you.

Tell me who you are and where your house is.” Then the snake knew well that the girl was the farmer’s daughter and felt very sorry for having killed all her people.

The snake told the girl about the incident, but told her not to cry.The snake gave her some nectar and told her to sprinkle it on her dead people, and with this they all come back to life.On doing so her family members came back to life.