Naag Panchami! The serpent king Vasuki!
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 and Naga Panchami is a day of traditional worship of Nagas or snakes observed by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. The worship is offered on the fifth day of bright half of lunar month of Shravan according to the hindu almanac.
One of the most striking aspect of lord Shiva’s image is the snake in his neck,who is Vasuki, the son of Kashyap and Kadru , is the most powerful snake and an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva.Without Lord Nageswar, Vasuki is just a destructive and powerful cobra.Adisesha, the king of the serpents and the mount of Narayana, is Vasuki's elder brother, and Manasa is his sister.
Vāsuki took part in the Samudra manthan by allowing both the devas and the asuras to bind him to Mount Mandara, so that they could use him as their churning rope to extract the Amrit from the ocean of milk.Vāsuki is famous for coiling around Lord Shiva's neck, who blessed the serpent for his devotion and wore him as an ornament.
It clings on to Lord Shiva’s neck in three coils representing the past, the present, and the future. The coiled snake around Shiva's neck represents desire & also reminds devotees to keep their ego/ahankara under control. When the ego is in check, peace prevails in life forever.
Kundalini energy or spiritual energy present in every human which arises from the base chakra ‘Muladhar’ to the seventh chakra ‘Sahasrara’ is also present as an aura around Shiva and the coiling of the snake is representative of this energy.Vasuki is also the string of Lord Shiva's powerful bow, Pinaaka. He helped Lord Shiva in destroying the Tripuradahana of Tarkasura sons.
Legend states that Vasuki has many forms: in one of his forms, he lives in Patala Loka, deep underground, and reigns over all the snakes of the underworld.In another form, Vasuki lives in the palace of the water god Varuna and in the third form, he lives, entwined around the neck of Mahadev, on Mount Kailash.The mythical Nagamani on his hood is a magical gem that serves as a universal panacea.
The very powerful Kukke Subramanya temple in Karnataka, is where Lord Subramanya offered protection to Vasuki from the attack of Garuda, who is the king of birds and also Lord Visnu's disciple. Other temples dedicated to Vasuki are found near Haripad, Mannarasala Illom in Kerala, Visakha district in Andhra Pradesh & nagarcoil district of Tamil Nadu.
Kukke Subramanya temple
Bhaderwah of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir has a temple called Vasuki Nag temple. The temple enshrines a single black stone piece idol of Vasuki Naag and Raja Jamute Vahan.The Nagvasuki temple in Prayagraj is on the banks of Ganga river & mentioned in the matsya purana.After the samudra Manthan,the tired & bruised Vasuki came to heal itself in the holy waters of Ganga.
Vasuki Nag temple
This temple is believed to be one of only two temples in India (the other being in Nasik) where one can be liberated from the bad effects of 'Kaal Sarpa Dosha'.
