synopsis

  • Did you know making the snake drink milk can be fatal to the reptiles
  • Eating meat, cutting vegetable or having fried items are banned
  • Here are three instances from mythology talking about the importance of Nagara Panchami

Karnataka is celebrating Nagara Panchami where the snake god is worshipped with grandeur. Every family pours in milk in the snake burrow, put flowers around it and present the burrow (snake inside it) with prasad.

1) Giving milk to snakes 

In fact, snakes do not consume milk. Drinking milk can prove fatal to snakes. In addition, if the milk is poured in the burrow when the snake is inside, there are more chances that it will catch a cold, jaundice and die.

But the people refuse to believe it in the South India and especially in Karnataka; they do not make the snake drink milk directly, they pour it into the burrow.

Let us have a look at three versions of the stories which give the reason why this festival is celebrated, and it is important for the people?

2) Janamejaya had decided to destroy all snakes

The first belief is that King Janamejaya finds out that his father Pareekshit dies as of a snake bite. He decides to perform a SarpaYajna (a pooja to destroy snakes) and decides to kill and eradicate the entire snake species. But as he gets ready to perform the Yajna, the advice of a saint giving him the message that cruelty towards animals is a sin, he withdraws from his decision to kill snakes. The day he took this decision is the Shukla Panchami of Shravan. Thus even to this day, the Shukla Panchami of Shravan is celebrated as Nagara Panchami.

3) Lord Krishna and his fight with the snake -Kalia 

The second story is about Lord Krishna and his encounter with a snake. When Krishna was a child, he was playing on the banks of Yamuna River, when he slips and falls into the river. A snake named Kalia attacks him, and Krishna fights against it as wins. After its defeat, Kalia requests Krishna to spare him, when Krishna takes a promise from Kalia, and no snake should harm people. The day Krishna defeated the snake is known as the Shukla Panchami of Shravan, and thus Nagara Panchami is held in remembrance of this day.

4) Snakes in the rainy season

Another common belief is that snakes come out of their burrows in the rainy season. So the people worship the snake and pray that it doesn't harm anyone.

5) Sathyeshwari and fasting 

In another mythological story, it is believed that a Goddess named Sathyeshwari keeps fast as her brother passes away the day before. Thus, there is also a belief that brothers benefit from sisters keeping a fast in their name!

6) No cutting, no frying 

Another belief is about food. Yes, chopping and frying are not allowed on Nagara Panchami. Thus people prepare payasam ( a sweet liquid). There is also a rule that digging the land is also banned on the day of Nagara Panchami.