Nag Panchami Festival of India
Name of Festival : Nag Panchami Festival
Major Territory of Celebration
Nag Panchami Festival is celebrated in Maharashtra state of India
Time of celebration (Months)
Nag Panchami Festival is celebrated on fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana (July – August)
Worship in Festival
In this festival people worship the NÄgas (cobras) or snake
About Festival
Nag Panchami Festival is a festival of Hindus in some parts of India worship either images of or live NÄgas (cobras) on the fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana.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. It is a snake festival.It is observed at the village called Battis Shitale in the Sangli district of Maharashtra India towards the end of August or early September.
On this snakes are worshiped.Best from the times when mankind started acquiring some sort of culture, Sun and Snake have been invoked with prayers and ritual worship in most of the countries.
History Nag Panchami Festival :
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna had conquered Naga Kalia and put an end to his evil deeds on Nag Panchami .Another mythology, a king used his Tantric powers to force Nagas to return to the land rains which they had taken away. Nagas gave in to the king’s Tantric power, but in recognition of their power to control rains, the king established Naga Panchami festival in honour of Naga.
On Festival day married women and the girls wake up early in the morning and take head bath and arrange all the necessary things for puja and start to reach a nearest AntHill(Snake’s Home).They offer puja and Milk to the Ant Hill and pray to Snake God .If there is no AntHill nearby then they offer milk and puja to the snake statues erected in the nearby temples .Later they are carried in processions of bullock carts and chariots. On the following day they are released into the fields from where they were captured.
