Evolution of Poetic Tropes: Snakes/Nāgas (3)

Harunaga Isaacson
July 6, 2020

Śiva’s Snake(s)

No doubt no god is more strongly associated with snakes than Śiva/Rudra.

He may wear a snake, or more than one, in his hair, around his neck, as
bracelet(s) on his arm(s), as a girdle, or as a sacred thread. Indeed,
then, his entire body might sometimes be covered with snakes; that is
at least a part of the fancy (utprekṣā) in the following verse of the Kash-
mirian poet Maṅkha.

nīrandhrabhasmaughasakhī tanur vaḥ

śarvasya durvāram aghaṃ hinastu|
sarvāṅgasaṃsaṅgibhujaṅgamukta-
nirmokapaṭṭair avaguṇṭhiteva|| 11 1
Maṅkha’s Śrīkaṇṭhacarita 1.10.

One might imagine, with the brahmacārī boy (actually Śiva himself)
that this plethora of snakes might frighten Pārvatī, at least at first.

avastunirbandhapare kathaṃ nu te
karo ’yam ābaddhavivāhakautukaḥ|
kareṇa śambhor valayīkṛtāhinā
sahiṣyate tatprathamāvalambanam|| 2 2 . 2
Kālidāsa’s Kumārasambhava 5.65

Indeed, in an old Prakrit verse, Śiva truly has this concern, and acts
considerately.

pāṇiggahaṇe ccia pavvaīa ṇāaṃ sahīhi sohaggaṃ|

pasuvaïṇā vāsuikaṃkaṇammi osārie dūraṃ|| 33 3
Sattasaī W 69.

The snake/Nāga Śeṣa (a.k.a. Ananta, Ādiśeṣa) is more usually

associated with Viṣṇu, especially as the bed on which the God sleeps. In
the following verse by Vallaṇa/Ballaṇa, included by both of the oldest
anthologists, Vidyākara and Śrīdhara, we find him serving Śiva in a
different way.

tādṛksaptasamudramudritamahī bhūbhṛdbhir abhraṃkaṣais

tāvadbhiḥ parivāritā pṛthupṛthudvīpaiḥ samantād iyam|
yasya sphāraphaṇāmaṇau nilayanān majjatkalaṅkākṛtiḥ4 4
majjatkalaṅkākṛtiḥ ] SuRaKo,
śeṣaḥ so ’py agamad yadaṅgadapadaṃ tasmai tiryakkalaṅkākṛtiḥ SaKaA

namaḥ śambhave|| 45 5
SuRaKo 38, SaKaA 13.
 evolution of poetic tropes: snakes/nāgas (3) 2

Viṣṇu’s Snake

As was mentioned above, Śeṣa/Ādiśeṣa/Ananta is famous as the bed

on which Viṣṇu sleeps in the (milk-)ocean. It is a topos that snakes like
milk, and this holds true according to Śrīharṣa for the world-snake too.

kallolajālacalanopanatena pīvā
jīvātunānavaratena payorasena|
asminn6 akhaṇḍaparimaṇḍalitorumūrtir 6
Refering to the ocean of milk, men-
adhyāsyate madhubhidā bhujagādhirājaḥ|| 57 tioned in the previous verse.
7
Naiṣadhacarita 11.41.

A Comparison/An Anyokti

yady api vilasati vāsukir adhirūḍhaḥ śirasi nāma giriśasya|

ślāghyataro bhuvanānāṃ tathāpi khalu bharasahaḥ śeṣaḥ|| 68 8
SūMuĀ saṃkīrṇavastuvarṇanapaddhati
11, attributed to Vallabhadeva.