THE SNAKE GODS OF HINDUISM

The Snake Gods are adorned and celebrated in all the Hindu temples of the world. From many centuries the Snake Gods have been given prominence in the life of most of the Hindu people. The Female Snake God is called as Nagarani and the Male God as Nagarajan.and idols of both Gods are placed in all the major Hindu temples of India. In some villages of South India, they have been adorned in the live form and their shelter, termite nest, is also kept in many temples of the country. Pariticularly on Fridays they are given raw eggs and milk. The devotees of them put the raw eggs and the cup of milk nearby their shelter and if the snakes are really living there, they will come out in night times to drink the eggs and milk.

Lord Shiva , The Great God of Hinduism, is wearing the God Nagarajan on his neck and Lord Krishna has made the Snake God Adhisheshan as His bed in His home.

The Hindu people are believing that Snake Gods are associated with wealth and healthy life and they will act as great securities when the people meet difficulties in their life. It is also believed that Snake Gods are having separate world and Shri Nagarajan and Shri Nagarani are ruling that world. However The Snake Gods and other Holy Snakes are under the control of major Gods like Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna.

Shri Rahu and Shri Ketu are also the Great Snake Gods as well as planetry deities of Hinduism. They both get prominence next to Lord Vinayaka in all the Hindu temples. They are described as malefic planets as they are giving great tribulations to the people in case of unfavorable horoscopic positions. They are also associated with many misevents and accidents in the life of Hindu people. This is believed by the devotees that Shri Rahu is the both averter and creator of misevents and accidents in a life. So the people are fearing to face His associated time period of Rahu Kalam, Kalam means certain hours of a day. Faithful worshipping of Shri Rahu would avert any obstacle and accident in the life of the Hindu people. Shri Ketu is associated with Gnan ( Knowledge ) and gives extreme tribulations to whom found lack of Gnan and sense. It is believed in Hindu's life that Shri Rahu is immediately killing by creating undesirable misevents and accidents and whereas the Ketu is giving great difficulties when He is not in favorable horoscopic position. But both Shri Rahu and Ketu are giving all the desirable things and events in ones life when they are in a favorable horoscopic positions.

The intersting story of Shri Rahu and Shri Kethu is as follows. Long ago there was a great war between Asuras ( demons ) and Devatas ( Gods ). The Devatas routed in the war and they went to Lord Brhama to seek His help. Brahma told them to churn the milk ocean. As a result they would be able to get Nectar ( Amrit ) which would make them immortal and all powerful and after consuming it they would be able to defeat Asuras. Churning the milk ocean is a very big job and so Devtas sought the help of Asuras. The Snake Vasuki was to become the rope, while the hill named Mandrachal offered to become the pivot. Lord Vishnu in the form of tortoise became the base and the churning process began. The Devatas held the tail of Vasuki and Asuras held the head. Various things came out during that churning process. There was a pot of poison came out and created a havoc in all the three worlds. To save all the Lord Shiva drank the poison and He did not let it to go beyond neck which became blue in color. This why He is called " Neelkant " ( one with blue neck )

Atlast the God Dhanvantari, the God of Medicines in Hinduism, came out with a pot of Amrit and immediately there was a mad scramble for it among the Devatas and Asuras. Seeing this Lord Krishna took the form of Mohini ( the beautiful lady dancer ) and offered His ideas to distribute Amrit equally to both Asuras and Devatas. Lord made both of them to sit in two rows, but He gave Amrit to Devatas only. Towards the end one of the Asuras saw through the trick. He went and sat among the Devatas and drank the Amrit. The moment Chandra ( Moon ) and Surya ( Sun ) who were sitting besides him saw that he was Asura, They informed Lord Vishnu. The Lord came to real form and got angry and let out Sudharshan Chakra ( wheel ) at the Asura. The Asura's head was separated from the body, but He did not die as He had drunk the Amrit. His head was called as Shri Rahu and His torso as Shri Ketu. According to Legend, Rahu and Ketu swallowed the Moon and Sun to have their revenge causing an eclipse.

Though these Gods are wicked and giving tribulations to the people, they are given significance and celebrated by the Hindu people as almost equal to Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva. To get peaceful and happy life the most of the Hindu people adorn them with great bhakthi. But some people are blaming that these Gods are the root causes for their difficulties in their life. The main thing to understand here is that these Gods are not mere responsible for the ill fate of the people. Lack of knowledge and lack of carefulness are the big reasons to the most of misevents and accidents. We have to make correct decisions in each and every part of our life to lead a happy life. When we lead a proper life, we need not blame the Gods to our misfortunes. Faithful worshipping of Shri Rahu and Shri Ketu and well planned life are showing success in all parts of our life.