Known to obstain from all the forms of indulgence and desires through his thousands of years of penance and meditation, Lord Shiva is undoubtedly the most fascinating and the most worshipped God in Hindu Mythology. Lord Shiva is often depicted meditating while seated on a tiger skin, with a third eye on his forehead.
He adorns himself with snakes around his neck and the crescent moon on his head. From his locks of matted hair flows the holy river Ganga.
He holds the trident (trisul) in one hand and the drum in another. He also appears at the Kailash mountain, or at the burning-ground covered his body with ashes.
Why Lord Shiva wears a snake around his neck ?”
There are plenty much mysteries about Lord Shiva but one question to be mostly asked that “Why Lord Shiva wears a snake around his neck ?”
To re-establish the glory of the Gods, when the Samudra Manthana or Churning of the Ocean of milk was organized to produce Amrit or the nectar of immortality, both the Gods (Devas) and Demons (Asuras) took part in it to get the Amrit.
Brief Glance to Samudra Manthan and Lord Shiva
To churn the ocean, the divine mount Mandar was brought and Vasuki, the king of snakes was used as a rope. Kashyap or Kurma, the 2nd avatar of Lord Vishnu, out of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu, hold the intolerable weight of mount Mandar on his back to complete the eternal cosmic act.
The demons hold the Vasuki (Nagaraja) by head-side where the Gods hold it by tail. When the De-gods started to churn the ocean.
They were able to gave birth to many meaningful and spiritual gifts such as like goddess Laxmi Mata, Apsaras, Varuni, Kamadhenu, Airavata, Kaustuva, Parijata, Chandra, Dhanatari, Shankha, Jyestha (Alakshmi), a divine umbrella, divine ear-rings, kalpavriksha, Nidra, Saranga etc in which some are poisonous too like Halahal.
Halahal, the poison which could be the destroyer of all the creatures along with the cosmos, started arising during Samudra Manthan. The devas approach to Lord Shiva for protection during such a pandemic emergency.
LORD SHIVA AS SAVIOUR
Shiva known for his compassion and self-sacrifice, believed as a self-protector of home coming devotees, willingly swallows the poison, Halahal with no benefit of his own but solely to save the world and spread the significance of divinity.
But, the poison was so potent that it changed the color of Lord Shiva’s throat to deep blue, thus the common depiction of lord Shiva having blue skin.
Most of the time, you can find Lord Shiva images with blue variations and deadly combination of his muscular body, open hair and angry with pain poses.
BUT WHY ?
During this arduous, Parvati, Lord Shiva’s consort, came for his rescue and through her Mahavidya, grabs his throat to control the poison, not letting the poison to spread throughout his body. This fearless attempt of goddess parvati gave Lord Shiva some relief but he could feel the pain further.
But she couldn’t hold on to his throat forever, that was like impossible to stay like that, so, therefore Snake Vasuki offered himself in service of Lord Shiva and Sat around his neck, not letting the poison run through his whole body.
In the scientific view, reptiles are cold blooded creatures, that could hold the warmth of poison in a particular area may be. It is from this incident, lord Shiva derives the name “Neelkantha” which refers to ‘one with the blue throat’.
And firther Vasuki ,the king of Cobras stays like that forever with Lord Shiva around his neck. Vasuki is like an ornament to Lord Shiva after the Samudra Manthan period of time.In some other parts of India.
This is the most incredible thing in Hinduism that they worship the animals, birds, reptiles and other creatures and often symbols that are related and connected to each Hindu deity.
This is the reason why we worship Snake which is related to the almighty. It Signifies the glory of Hinduism and their qualities like kindness towards every creatures.
The beauty of Hinduism is that they show mercy each and every creature of the world. Omm Namah Shivay
