On Nag Panchami, a picture or clay image of the serpent deity is worshipped at the main door or the home puja space. The festival falls on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha in Shravan month, landing during the Sawan season when snakes are most active due to monsoon rains flooding their burrows. For the date, see the Nag Panchami muhurat article.

Why serpents are worshipped

Nag Panchami isn’t just ritual tradition. In agrarian India, snakes control rodent populations that would otherwise destroy grain stores. The festival reflects a deep respect for the ecological role snakes play. The Naga deities (Ananta, Vasuki, Shesha, Padma, Kambala, Shankhapala, Dhritarashtra, Takshaka, and Kaliya) are invoked for protection from snakebite and for blessings related to fertility and prosperity. Lord Shiva wears Vasuki around his neck; Lord Vishnu rests on Shesha. Serpents run deep through Hindu cosmology.

Puja samagri

  • An idol, picture, or a drawn image of the naga
  • Raw milk, turmeric, kumkum, akshat (unbroken rice grains)
  • Flowers (white and yellow preferred), durva grass, incense and diya
  • Sweets or roasted gram (lava-chana) as bhog
  • Sandalwood paste (optional, for applying to the image)
  • A small copper or silver bowl for the milk offering

For families abroad, most of these items are available at any Indian grocery store. The naga image can be printed out if a clay idol isn’t available locally.

Puja steps

  1. Wake early, bathe, and clean the puja area. The puja is traditionally done in the morning hours.
  2. Draw the naga’s image at the main door or on the puja room wall using ochre and a rice paste. In many homes, a five-headed or seven-headed serpent is drawn. If you have a printed image or clay idol, place it on a clean cloth or plate.
  3. Offer raw milk, turmeric and kumkum to that image or to the idol. The milk is poured gently over or in front of the image, not consumed.
  4. Offer flowers and durva grass, then light the diya and incense.
  5. Chant a naga stotra or the mantra “Om Nagadevataya Namah”. The Nag Gayatri (“Om Naagkulaya Vidmahe, Vishadantaya Dheemahi, Tanno Sarpa Prachodayat”) is also chanted in many traditions.
  6. Offer the bhog (sweets, lava, roasted gram), perform the aarti, and distribute prasad.

Many families also observe a fast on this day, avoiding fried foods and non-vegetarian food. In some regions (especially Maharashtra and parts of UP), women fast specifically for the well-being of their brothers, drawing a parallel with Raksha Bandhan which falls close by in the calendar.

An important note

Pouring milk on a live snake is a practice seen in some places, but snakes cannot actually digest milk and it harms them. Veterinary studies have confirmed that snakes are lactose intolerant and forcing milk causes respiratory distress. Direct the offering to the idol, picture, or drawn image instead, never to a live snake. The devotion is real; it just needs to be directed at the deity’s image, not at an animal that can’t benefit from it.