Nāgas

Hinduism

Nāgas, as a serpent-shaped group of deities that often take form as cobras, are prominent in Hindu iconography, throughout Hindu texts (especially in the first book of the Mahābhārata) and in local folk traditions of worship. In some regions of the Himalaya, nāgas are regarded as the divine rulers of the region – for example, in Kullu Valley, in Berinag and in the valley of the Pindar River, which is believed to be ruled by the ninefold Naiṇī Devī. Both in the Nilamata Purana of Kashmir and in the Swayambhu Purana of Kathmandu, the respective region begins its history as a lake, populated by nāgas, which is later drained.