Nag Panchami Puja Vidhi · नाग पंचमी पूजा विधि

How Nag Panchami is kept: worship of the serpent deities with Shiva, an image or clay figure of the Nag bathed with milk and water, offerings of haldi, roli, rice and flowers, and the katha, as the published guides describe it.

How the puja is done

When

Nag Panchami falls on Shravana Shukla Panchami, in the month sacred to Shiva; some regions keep it on other dates. The puja is usually done in the morning. See the Nag Panchami page for the date.

The puja

Rise early and bathe, and take the sankalp to worship the Nag devatas along with Shiva. Many also worship the Shivling at a temple.
Set up a picture of the Nag deity, or shape one from clay, on a chowki covered with a red cloth. In many homes serpent figures are also drawn by the door or on the wall.
Bathe the image with water and milk, then offer haldi, roli, akshat (rice), flowers and raw milk.
The great serpents are often named in the worship: Ananta, Vasuki, Takshaka, Padma and others. Guides give lists of eight or of twelve.
Read or hear the Nag Panchami katha, the story of a farmer whose plough killed a serpent's young and of the forgiveness the serpent later granted, then do the aarti.

A note on live snakes

Offer milk to the image, not to a live snake: as Shubh Panchang notes, snakes cannot digest milk.

Customs differ by region and community: follow your family's way where it differs.

These steps are written in our own words; each appears in at least two of the published sources linked below, and steps found in only one source are left out. Puja customs differ by family, region and tradition; your family priest or family custom comes first.

About this text

Nag Panchami honours the Nagas, the serpent deities, who are closely linked with Shiva, who wears a serpent around his neck. It falls in Shravana, and families worship the Nag devatas with milk, flowers and prayers for protection and well-being. This page gives the observance as the published guides listed below describe it. Customs differ by region and community: follow your family's way where it differs.