VASUKI – THE SERPENT

VASUKI – THE SERPENT

The celestial serpent Vasuki is the second child among the Nagas born to Kadru and Kashypa PrajaPati. He beautifies the neck of Lord Shiva by coiling around it. Mahadev uses serpents as his adornments. The hoops of Lord Shiva are nagas named Penaman and Kundalan. The armlets of the lord are decorated by serpents Ashwara and Takshaka. Wearing Nagas as the ornaments implies that Mahadev’s devotees would not die of snake bite and they don’t have to undergo the prolonged stays in hospitals with diseases. The two coiled serpent seen on scepter of the caduceus the medical symbol indicates the two nerves “Ida “and “Pingala”. That serpent is Vasuki. The blood of asura named Prithamali is the poison of him, known also by the name “KalaKoodam”. This name can be interprets as the “Things that burns Kala ( god of death /time )”. The five great venoms are Kalakooda, Sringi, Mustakam, Vatsanabham and SangaKarni, out of which KalaKoodam is the most poisonous. The venom Kalakoodam in Sanskrit knows as HalaHal. During the Churning of ocean of milk using vasuki as the rope, the great serpent vomited the vicious poison Halahala, to save the world from imminent devastation gods prayed to MahaDeva. Lord Shiva drank poison to protect the world. The Madura temple known as the halasa temple is dedicated to this form of Mahadeva who consumed poison to rescue the world. This lord whose greatness is praised through 64 plays in a scared book known by the name Halasya Mahatmayam. Once there was a competition between Vasuki and the lord of wind regarding who is the strongest out of two. The challenge was, in order to prove his strength Wind god should crack off a peak of Mount Meru. Vasuki coiled around the peak as a rope and forced it strongly against the earth .The competition was a very tough one. Wind blow as hard and fierce it could but mountain was immobile. This lasted for a prolonged time and none was victorious but none of them want to withdraw from the competition. Then wind subdued as if it left it for a while to take rest. Vasuki tilted his head a bit to check if the Wind god actually left the place. At this moment wind raged powerfully and peak of Meru was chopped off. According to legend the cut off piece of Mount Meru that fell on the ocean later became Sree Lanka. The serpent spirit in the Lord Shiva temple is Vasuki. Hence while doing the ayiliyam pooja and sarpabali it should be conducted by reciting Vasuki mantra not by the Anantha mantra. Vasuki Dhyana “Om Phanshta sathasekharam drutha suvarna punja prabham Varaabharana bhooshanam tharuna jaalathamrasukam Svjravara lakshanam navasarojarakthaikshanam Namami shirasa surasuranamaskratham vasukeem” Meaning – Bow to whom having 108 hoods , having golden effulgence , who wore excellent ornaments , who is radiant , wore sparkling bronze colored silk material, symbolizes an exquisite diamond , who is bowed by the Deva &Asura alike .