Cobra Worship and Superstition

COBRA worship has existed from ancient times. The cobra motif has been found on seals at Mohenjo-Daro, one of the oldest civilizations to be unearthed by archaeologists. From the third millennium B.C.E. down to today, millions in India have viewed cobras with superstitious reverence. Interestingly, many of the cobra stories can be recognized as distorted myths built around actual historical happenings.

A creation “story” tells of a time when there was no light in the universe. From dark cosmic waters the brilliant god Vishnu was created first, then heaven, earth, and the underworld. From the leftover material, a gigantic cobra called Shesha (meaning remaining part) was created. Myth credits Shesha with from 5 to 1,000 heads, and images depict Vishnu reclining on the coiled Shesha, sheltered by the open hoods of Shesha’s many heads. Earthquakes are attributed to Shesha’s yawn, and fire from his mouth or his venom destroys the world at the end of an age.

Hindu mythology depicts a cobra-race called Nagas, who inhabit the underworld, Nagalok or Patala. The ape-god Hanuman claims that in the “Perfect Age,” all men were saintly, there was only one religion, and there were no demons or Nagas. The serpents became the guardians of the earth’s wealth and possessed great knowledge and magical powers. Shesha, sometimes also called Vasuki, was used by the gods to churn a sea of milk to produce amrit, a nectar that would give immortality. The underworld, ruled by the Nagas, is portrayed as a most desirable place; warriors who die in battle are promised unimaginable pleasures there.

However, not all mythical cobras are considered benign. One “story” relates an encounter between Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, and Kaliya, a great, malignant demon-cobra. Images show the victorious Krishna with his foot on the head of the great serpent.

Manasa, or Durgamma, queen of the Nagas, is worshiped by women to protect their children from snakebite. On the festival of Nagapanchami, snake devotees pour milk and even blood on images of cobras and down snake holes. Stone or silver images of cobras are worshiped and offered at temples by women hoping to conceive a male child.

A documentary movie, Shakti, was filmed at a festival in Rajasthan, India, where every August hundreds of thousands of snake worshipers meet in the desert. Under a burning sun and in temperatures reaching over 122 degrees Fahrenheit [50°C.], they flagellate themselves with iron rods and crawl on their stomachs more than a mile [2 km] on the scorching sand to the temple of a snake-god, Gogha. A historical king in the tenth century C.E., Gogha is said to have saved his people from Muslim invaders by leading the enemy into a snake-infested area, where the army was decimated by snakebites.