NAGA

Snake worship refers to the high status of snakes or (nagas) in Hindu mythology. Nāga (Sanskrit:नाग) is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very large snake, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed “Nāgas”; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī. The Snake primarily represents rebirth, death and mortality, due to its casting of its skin and being symbolically “reborn”. Over a large part of India there are carved representations of cobras or nagas or stones as substitutes. To these human food and flowers are offered and lights are burned before the shrines. Among some South Indians, a cobra which is accidentally killed is burned like a human being; no one would kill one intentionally. The serpent-god’s image is carried in an annual procession by a celibate priestess.

The term Naga means literally “Serpent”, and these unusual creatures were serpent gods who lived somewhere deep underground in the Himalaya… The Nagas were flying beings, who were able to travel long distances across the skies. These serpent gods were known for their magnificent, shining palaces. Their underground city was called Bhogawati and its lord and ruler was the King of the Nagas, Vasuki. What did Jesus mean when he said to be “as wise as serpents?”