Shesha
Encyclopedia
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
(Vedic
Historical Vedic religion
The religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...
) tradition, Shesha ( in IAST
IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...
transliteration, Devanagari
Devanagari
Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: शेष) or Sheshanaag (Shesha the Naga) is the king of all nagas
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
, one of the primal beings of creation, and according to the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
, an Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
of the Supreme God known as Sankarshan. In the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
, Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
on his hoods and to constantly sing the glories of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
from all his mouths. He is sometimes referred to as Ananta Shesha which means endless Shesha or as Adishesha which means the first Shesha. It is said that when Adishesha uncoils, time moves forward and creation takes place. When he coils back, the universe ceases to exist. "Shesha" also means remainder: that which remains when all else ceases to exist.
A dasa
Dasa
Dasa is a term used with the primary meaning 'enemy', especially relating to tribes identified as the enemies of the Indo-Aryan tribes in the Rigveda....
(servant) and also a manifestation of Lord Vishnu, he is said to have manifested in two human forms or Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
s: Lakshmana
Lakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
, brother of Lord Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
, and Balarama
Balarama
Balarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana...
, brother of Lord Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
.
Form
Serpent (symbolism)
Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...
, sometimes with each head wearing an ornate crown.
His name means "that which remains", from the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
, because when the world is destroyed at the end of the kalpa, Shesha remains as he is.
In the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 10, Krishna while describing 75 of his common manifestations, declares, "anantas cha 'smi naganam": Of the nagas, I am Ananta.
As per the Mahabharata, Sesha was born to sage Kashyapa and his wife Kadru
Kadru
In the mythology of India, Kadru , is usually the daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa, and the mother of the Nagas. This is according to the Mahabharata ....
. Kadru
Kadru
In the mythology of India, Kadru , is usually the daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa, and the mother of the Nagas. This is according to the Mahabharata ....
gave birth to a thousand snakes, of which Sesha was the eldest. After Sesha were born Vasuki, Airavata and Takshaka, in order. A lot of Sesha’s brothers were cruel in nature and were bent upon inflicting harm on others. They were even unkind to Garuda, who was Kashyapa’s son through Vinatha, sister of Kadru. (Kadru and Vinatha were daughters of Daksha). Sesha, disgusted by the cruel acts of his brothers, left his mother and kin, and took to austere penances. He lived on air, and meditated in various places including Gandhamadhana, Badrikāshrama, Gokarna, Pushkara and Himalayas. His penances were so severe that his flesh, skin and muscles dried up and merged with his frame. Brahma, convinced of his Sesha's will, asked Sesha to request a boon. Sesha asked that he be able to keep his mind under control so that he could continue to perform ascetic penances. Brahma gladly accepted the request. Brahma then asked a favour of Sesha – to go beneath the unstable earth and stabilize it. Sesha agreed and went to the netherworld, and stabilized her with his hood. He is known to support her even today, thus making Patala his perennial residence. (Mbh, Adi Parva)
Sesha with Vishnu and Mahalakshmi
Sesha is also depicted as floating in the ocean of the changing world, forming the bed of Vishnu. He is also known as Adisesha (the foremost of snakes) and Anantasesha or just Ananta (endless, as he is known to remain in existence even after the end of the Kalpa, when the whole world is destroyed)
Other details
BalaramaBalarama
Balarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana...
, Lakshmana
Lakshmana
Lakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
, Ramanuja
Ramanuja
Ramanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar , Emperumannar, Lakshmana Muni, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
and Nityananda Prabhu
Nityananda
Image:Panca-tattva Altar.jpg|thumb|This is interactive image-map. Click! on lotus feet. Sri Krishna Chaitanya , Sri Nityananda Prabhu , Sri Advaita Acharya , Sri Gadadhara Pandit , Sri Srivas Pandit...
, are considered avatars of Shesha (or vice versa). Patañjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
is also considered an emanation or incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
of Shesha and is iconographically depicted in naga form with naga canopy.
In a story from the Puranas, Shesha loosens Mount Mandara
Mount Mandara
Mandara is the name of a mountain which appears in the Samudra manthan episode in the Hindu Puranas, where it was used as a churning rod to churn the ocean of milk. The serpent, Vasuki offered to serve as the rope...
, to enable it to be used in the churning of the ocean by the deva
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
s and asura
Asura
-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
s.
According to the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
(Adi Parva), his father was Kashyapa and his mother Kadru
Kadru
In the mythology of India, Kadru , is usually the daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa, and the mother of the Nagas. This is according to the Mahabharata ....
.
The city of Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
is named after him as the "City of Lord Ananta."
"Encyclopaedic dictionary of Purāṇas" quotes,
The Nair clan
Nair Dynasty
A number of Nair dynasties existed in present day Kerala state, South India in the middle ages. These Hindu dynasties ruled tiny city states called "nadus" and were in frequent warfare with each other...
in southern part of Kerala is considered to be the descendants of The Great Serpent Ananta.
Quotations
- "The foremost manifestation of Krishna is Sankarshana, who is known as Ananta. He is the origin of all incarnations within this material world. Previous to the appearance of Lord KrishnaKrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
, this original Sankarshana will appear as Baladeva, just to please the Supreme Lord Krishna in His transcendental pastimes." (Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata puranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
10.1.24)
- "That Ananta Sesha is the devotee incarnation of Godhead. He knows nothing but service to Lord Krishna." (Sri Chaitanya Caritamrita Adi-lila 5.120)
- "My dear King, approximately 240,000 miles beneath the planet PatalaPatalaPatala is a town and a nagar panchayat in Ghaziabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-Demographics: India census, Patala had a population of 9730. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Patala has an average literacy rate of 61%, higher than the national average of...
lives another incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the expansion of Lord Vishnu known as Lord Ananta or Lord Sankarshana. He is always in the transcendentalTranscendence (religion)In religion transcendence refers to the aspect of God's nature which is wholly independent of the physical universe. This is contrasted with immanence where God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways...
position, but because He is worshiped by Lord SivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, the deity of tamo-guna or darkness, He is sometimes called Tamasi. Lord Ananta is the predominating Deity of the material mode of ignorance as well as the false ego of all conditioned souls. When a conditioned living being thinks, 'I am the enjoyer, and this world is meant to be enjoyed by me,' this conception of life is dictated to him by Sankarshana. Thus the mundane conditioned soul thinks himself the Supreme Lord." (Bhagavata PuranaBhagavata puranaThe Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
5.25.1)
- "Sri Anantadeva has thousands of faces and is fully independent. Always ready to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He waits upon Him constantly. Sankarshana is the first expansion of Vasudeva, and because He appears by His own will, He is called svarat, fully independent. He is therefore infinite and transcendental to all limits of timeTimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
and spaceSpaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
. He Himself appears as the thousand-headed Sesha." (Srila Jiva Gosvami, in his Krishna-sandarbha)
- "Sankarshana of the quadruple form descends with Lord RamaRamaRama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
as LakshmanaLakshmanaLakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
. When Lord Rama disappears, Sesha again separates Himself from the personality of Lakshmana. Sesha then returns to His own abode in the Patala regions, and Lakshmana returns to His abode in Vaikuntha." (A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaAbhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
)
- In the Bhagavad-Gita, when in the middle of the battlefield KurukshetraKurukshetraKurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...
, Krishna explaining his omnipresence, says: "Of NāgaNagaNaga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
s, I am Ananta" indicating the importance of Ananta Shesha.
Other names
- Sheshanaga (Sesha the serpent)
- Adisesha (the first Sesha)
- Anantasesha (Endless Sesha)
- Ananta (endless/infinite).
- Nagashayana
- Alternative spelling: Sesa, Sesha, .
See also
- NāgaNagaNaga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
- Snake worshipSnake worshipThe worship of serpent deities is present in several old cultures, particularly in religion and mythology, where snakes were seen as entities of strength and renewal.-Hindu mythology:...
- VishnuVishnuVishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
Avatars of Shesha
- BalaramaBalaramaBalarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana...
- LakshmanaLakshmanaLakshmana was the brother and close companion of Rama, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana...
- Nityananda Prabhu
- PatañjaliPatañjaliPatañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
- Sri Ramanuja