Nag Panchami in Kashi: serpents, a hidden well, and the wrestlers of Banaras

Nag Panchami falls on the Panchami, the fifth day, of the bright fortnight of Shravana (Sawan), two days after Hariyali Teej. In 2026 it is Monday, 17 August, which, falling on a Monday, Shiva's day, adds to its power.

Nag Panchami honours the nagas, the serpent deities of Hindu belief, guardians of the underworld and of hidden treasure and knowledge, and emblems of cosmic and kundalini energy. Across India devotees bathe images of the snake in milk, offer flowers and turmeric, and pray for protection from snakebite and from the astrological afflictions of Rahu and Ketu and Kaal Sarp Dosha. It falls in Sawan, Shiva's month, and Shiva wears the serpent Vasuki about his neck, so honouring the nagas is also to please Shiva. Twelve principal nagas, Ananta, Vasuki, Shesha, Takshaka, Kaliya and others, are named in the worship.

Kashi's great Nag Panchami gathering is at the Nag Kuan, the "serpent well," in the Jaitpura area, an ancient stepped well held sacred to the nagas and, by tradition, linked to the sage Patanjali. On Nag Panchami a large fair fills the site: devotees descend the steps to the water to worship and offer milk, and the whole quarter turns to the festival. It is one of those deep-local Kashi observances that most visitors never hear of, and being taken to it, with the story told, is the kind of thing that separates a real Banaras day from a checklist.

From the ground: for my guests I pair the two faces of the Kashi day, the quiet, watery devotion at the Nag Kuan in the morning, and the noise and dust of the akhara later, so you feel why this city holds the serpent as both a god to worship and a symbol of strength to wrestle for.

This is Banaras's own twist. On Nag Panchami the akharas, the traditional earthen-floored wrestling gyms of the city, hold special celebrations and bouts, because the snake is the emblem of virility and of the coiled kundalini energy the wrestler cultivates. Kushti (mud wrestling) is deep in Banaras culture, and Nag Panchami is one of its great days: pehalwans wrestle, the akharas honour their patron and their pit, and crowds gather to watch. In some akharas a shrine to the Naga Raja is worshipped, milk poured over the serpent image. It is a face of the city, muscular, earthy, ancient, that the ghats and temples alone do not show.

Several stories sit behind the day. Krishna subdued the serpent Kaliya who had poisoned the Yamuna, dancing on his hoods and sparing him, the same tale Kashi enacts at Nag Nathaiya. The sage Astika halted King Janamejaya's Sarpa Satra, the great snake sacrifice meant to wipe out the naga race, and saved the serpents; the day the sacrifice stopped is kept as Nag Panchami. And Shiva wears Vasuki, and Vishnu rests on Shesha, so the serpent is woven through the divine order itself. Together they make a day of reverence rather than fear.

Kashi keeps the Krishna-Kaliya story twice over. Nag Panchami, in Sawan, is the pan-Indian serpent festival kept here at the Nag Kuan and the akharas. Nag Nathaiya, in Kartik, is the single-evening leela at Tulsi Ghat where a boy as Krishna rises on the serpent's hood. Same serpent, same victory, two very different Kashi occasions, and a visitor curious about the naga in Varanasi can follow the thread from one to the other.

The classic offerings are milk poured over the naga image or into the well, and flowers, turmeric, rice and sandalwood, the serpent is said to love fragrance. Live snakes are best only honoured, not disturbed; the ethical, modern practice is to worship the image or the well rather than the captive snakes of charmers. Offerings are simple and inexpensive.

• The Nag Kuan, Jaitpura: for the fair and the well worship, the heart of the Kashi day.
• An akhara at bout time: for the wrestling and the earthy other face of the festival.
• A Shiva temple in Sawan: the day sits inside the Shiva month, so the linga worship flows into it.
• The ghats, early: for the Sawan morning before the fair.

Nag Panchami in Kashi is free and public: the Nag Kuan fair and the akhara bouts are open, with nothing to buy your way into. Two honest points. The Nag Kuan quarter is a dense, deep-local part of the old city, not a polished tourist site, part of its value, but it wants a guide who knows the lanes. And a gentle ethical word: the roadside snake-charmers with baskets, still seen on the day, keep the snakes in ways the law and decency discourage; we do not route guests to pay for that, and the true festival is at the well and the akhara, not the charmer's basket. What we honestly arrange is the way in, the story, the akhara access and the timing, on a monsoon day in a working quarter.

Fly into Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS), about 25 km out; trains serve Varanasi Junction, Banaras and Kashi stations. The Nag Kuan is in Jaitpura, in the northern old city; the lanes are walked. August is monsoon, so allow for rain. Our guests move by private Innova Crysta, staged near the quarter. Full detail in the How to Reach Varanasi guide.

Our package guests stay at the Taj Ganges or Hilton Varanasi with breakfast, a comfortable base in the monsoon. Nag Panchami falls within Sawan, a busy pilgrim month in Kashi, so book ahead. More in the Stay & Hotels guide.

Nag Panchami falls within Sawan, so it pairs naturally with a Sawan in Kashi visit, the whole Shiva month. A custom Nag Panchami day with the Nag Kuan fair, an akhara and the Sawan temples builds on one flat rate: ₹12,500 per day for two guests, Taj or Hilton base, Innova throughout, confirmed in writing before any advance. It slots into the 4 Days Ayodhya Varanasi Tour Package, ₹50,000 per couple (₹25,000 per person). Browse all packages.