Nag Panchmi
Introduction:-
In Mithila Nag
Panchami goes to is work ship of Nag. The
period of work ship of Nag is July/August. Actually this festival is
for farmer for good harvest in monsoon season. Nag-Panchami is an important
all-Mithila festival and is celebrated on the fifth day of the
moonlit-fortnight in the month of Shravan (July /August). This is the time
when serpents invariably come out of their holes that get inundated with
rain-water to seek shelter in gardens and many times in houses. As such they
pose a great danger to man.
The Legend
In ancient India, there lived a clan by the name of "NAGAS" whose culture
was highly developed. The Indus Valley civilisation of 3000 B.C. gives ample
proof of the popularity of snake-worship amongst the Nagas, whose culture
was fairly wide-spread in India even before the Aryans came. After the Naga
culture got incorporated into Hinduism, the Indo-Aryans themselves accepted
many of the snake deities of the Nagas in their pantheon and some of them
even enjoyed a pride of place in the Puranic Hinduism.
Important
Aspects of Nag Panchami and celebration of Nag Panchami
This so called
"Nag Panchmi" has several important components. In addition to offerings
made to the snakes throughout the country during worship and celebration,
men and women celebrate the day in these ways:
- Cobras
are bathed in milk and offered rice as this is thought to offer immunity
from their bites.
- Women
often partake in early baths of milk and wear colourful saris.
- Pots of
milk and flowers are placed next to holes that are believed to contain
snakes as an offering of devotion. If a snake actually drinks the milk
it is thought to be the ultimate sign of good luck.
- Mansa,
the Queen of Snakes, is worshiped in most parts of Bengal during Nag
Panchami.
- In the
Punjabi region, a large dough snake is created and then paraded around
the village. The parade is colourful with plenty of singing and dancing;
at the end of the parade the snake is buried. Nag Panchami is referred
to as "Guga-Navami" in Punjab.
- Snake
charmers sit alongside the roads of Maharashtra and encourage women to
offer milk, flowers and haldi-kumkum (a powdered offering of tumeric and
vermillion) to the dangerous snakes the snake charmers carry.
- In many
villages, snake charmers carry pots containing cobras to a central
temple where they are released and then worshiped with offerings of milk
and rice.
- Mainly in
the south of India, people worship figures of snakes made of clay or
sandalwood as alternatives to the real-life versions.
- No Hindu
home may fry anything on the day of Nag Panchami.
- Girls who
are hoping to marry believe that the cobra offers good luck in their
quest for eternal happiness.
Composed By Pandit Jay Chandra Jha
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