Nag Panchami 2027
6 August 2027

Nag Panchami, kept on Shravan Shukla Panchami, is the worship of the Nagas, the serpent deities, for protection from snakebite and in thanks for their part, in tradition, in guarding the earth’s waters. The Mahabharata’s Astika Parva tells how the sage Astika, born of a Naga mother, stopped King Janamejaya’s sarpa yagna, a sacrifice meant to destroy every snake in revenge for his father’s death by snakebite, winning a boon that no Naga present at the fire would be harmed; that day is kept as this Panchami.

Many homes also remember, on this day, the Bhagavata Purana’s story of young Krishna subduing the serpent Kaliya, who had poisoned the waters of the Yamuna, as another telling of how the Nagas were brought under control rather than destroyed. Families worship a drawn or moulded image of a snake, or visit a Naga temple, offering milk, turmeric and flowers; where live snakes were once brought by snake-charmers for this worship, most families today keep to an image instead, since capturing snakes is no longer practised and milk is not, in any case, a snake’s natural food.

• Image or small idol of a Naga
• Milk and turmeric
• Akshat and flowers
• Kheer or laddoo for bhog
• Diya and incense

Source: Mahabharata, Astika Parva

King Parikshit died of a snakebite from Takshaka, the king of the Nagas, and his son Janamejaya, grieving and angry, vowed a sarpa yagna, a sacrifice whose fire would draw in and destroy every snake in the world, to avenge his father.

As the yagna’s power grew, snakes from every corner fell into the fire one after another, unable to resist its pull. Takshaka himself fled to Indra’s own realm for shelter, but the yagna’s force began drawing even Indra, and Takshaka with him, towards the fire.

At that moment Astika, son of the sage Jaratkaru and a Naga princess, arrived at the yagna, praised Janamejaya with such wisdom that the king, pleased, offered him any boon. Astika asked that the yagna be stopped. Bound by his own word, Janamejaya halted it at once, just before Takshaka could fall, and every Naga still living was spared.

What to do

• Show kindness to any snake you come across, letting it go its own way, since this is the very point the day exists to teach.
• Offer milk to an image or at a temple rather than to a live snake, since snakes do not drink milk in nature and it can harm a captive one.
• Tell children the story of Astika, so the day’s reason is not lost to the ritual alone.

What to avoid

• Avoid killing or harming any snake today, which is the very point of the vrat.
• Avoid paying anyone to bring a live snake for worship, since capturing snakes is against the law and is also unkind to the snake.
• By old custom, many avoid digging near an anthill or a snake’s burrow on this day.

The day is kept with particular devotion in Maharashtra and Karnataka, and across much of North India, with the image of a cobra at the doorway. In Kerala, Nagaradhane, worship of the Naga as a household shrine’s guardian, continues through the year with its own calendar, and Bengal keeps Manasa Puja, for the snake goddess Manasa, around this season.

Since this is Shukla paksha, Amanta and Purnimanta calendars both call the month Shravan, so there is no month-name difference.