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Vasuki is a Sanskrit name for a naga, one of the serpents of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a great King of the nagas and has a gem (Nagamani) on his head. Manasa
Manasa

Manasa is a Hinduism folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of northeastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and general prosperity....
, another naga is his sister. Vasuki is known in Chinese and Japanese mythology as being one of the "eight Great Naga Kings" (??? Hachi Ryuu-ou), amongst Nanda (Nagaraja), Upananda, Sagara (Shakara), Takshaka, Balavan, Anavatapta and Utpala.

Vasuki was also the name of the devout wife of the Tamil
Tamil people

Tamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the Sri Lankan Tamils of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil language , with a recorded history going back five millennia....
 poet Thiruvalluvar.

Legends of Vasuki
The most famous legend in Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
 that Vasuki takes part in the incident of Samudra manthan
Samudra manthan

In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or The churning of the ocean of milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas and is celebrated in a major way every twelve years in the festival known as Kumbha Mela....
, the churning the ocean of milk
Ocean of milk

File:Vishnu and Lakshmi on Shesha Naga, ca 1870.jpgThe Ocean of Milk in Hindu mythology is the place where 13 precious treasures were lost. The gods and demons worked together for a millennium churning the sea to free them....
.






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Vasuki is a Sanskrit name for a naga, one of the serpents of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. He is a great King of the nagas and has a gem (Nagamani) on his head. Manasa
Manasa

Manasa is a Hinduism folk goddess of snakes, worshipped mainly in Bengal and other parts of northeastern India, chiefly for the prevention and cure of snakebite and also for fertility and general prosperity....
, another naga is his sister. Vasuki is known in Chinese and Japanese mythology as being one of the "eight Great Naga Kings" (??? Hachi Ryuu-ou), amongst Nanda (Nagaraja), Upananda, Sagara (Shakara), Takshaka, Balavan, Anavatapta and Utpala.

Vasuki was also the name of the devout wife of the Tamil
Tamil people

Tamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the Sri Lankan Tamils of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil language , with a recorded history going back five millennia....
 poet Thiruvalluvar.

Legends of Vasuki


The most famous legend in Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
 that Vasuki takes part in the incident of Samudra manthan
Samudra manthan

In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or The churning of the ocean of milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas and is celebrated in a major way every twelve years in the festival known as Kumbha Mela....
, the churning the ocean of milk
Ocean of milk

File:Vishnu and Lakshmi on Shesha Naga, ca 1870.jpgThe Ocean of Milk in Hindu mythology is the place where 13 precious treasures were lost. The gods and demons worked together for a millennium churning the sea to free them....
. He agreed to allow the deva
Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, spirit, demi-god, Celestial, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence....
s (gods) and the asura
Asura

Sorry, no overview for this topic
s (demons) use him as the churning rope, bound with Mount Mandar when they churned the ocean of milk for the ambrosia of immortality. While Vasuki was being used as a rope, the strain caused him to exhale Halahala
Halahala

Halahala is the name of a poison created from the sea when deva s and Asuras churned the sea in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality....
, the most potent venom in the universe. There was the danger that the Halahala could destroy all living beings and perhaps the universe itself. Then Shiva
Shiva

Shiva: is a major Hinduism god, and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is one of panchadeva....
, in order to prevent the destruction of the cosmos, decided to swallow the poison himself. The venom turned his throat blue, and thus earned him the title Nilakanta (blue-throated).

Vasuki is also mentioned and used as a tightening rope in other Hindu scripture
Hindu scripture

Literature regarded as central to the Hindu literary tradition was predominantly composed in Sanskrit, Indeed, much of the Morphology and Linguistics philosophy inherent in the learning of Sanskrit is inextricably linked to study of the Vedas and other Hindu texts....
s, such as in each of the Itihasas (Ramayana and Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
).

In the Bhagavad-Gita (Ch.10, Verse 28), in the middle of the battlefied "Kurukshetra", Krishna explaining his omnipresence, says - "Of seperants(sarpa), I am Vasuki" indicating the importance of Vasuki.

In Buddhist mythology, Vasuki and the other Naga Kings were amongst the audiences of many of the Buddha
Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
's sermons. Their duties as Naga Kings included leading the protection, worship and honoring of the Buddha (amongst the Naga) and also to see that other enlightened beings are protected when in danger.

See also

  • Snake worship
    Snake worship

    The worship of serpent deities is present in several old cultures, particularly in Hindu religion and mythology, where snakes were seen as entities of strength and renewal....
  • Naga
  • Nagaraja
    Nagaraja

    Nagaraja is a Sanskrit word from Naga and raj meaning King of Snakes. It is applied to three main deities, Anantha, Vasuki & Takshak....
  • kuzuryu
    Kuzuryu

    , or is a kami that appears in folklore and legends of various parts of Japan, including, for example, Hakone , Nagano Prefecture and Fukui Prefecture....
  • Dragon King
    Dragon King

    The four Dragon Kings are, in Chinese mythology, the divine rulers of the four seas . Although Dragon Kings appear in their true forms as Chinese dragon, they have the ability to shapeshift into human form....
  • Hindu mythology
    Hindu mythology

    Hindu mythology is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas....
  • Buddhist mythology
    Buddhist mythology

    Buddhist mythology operates within the Buddhist belief system. It is a relatively broad mythology, as it was adopted and influenced by several diverse cultures....