In Hinduism there is a very long history about the snake people.
They are called Naga and Nagini.
Naga is a male snake person and Nagini is a female.
They have upper bodies of humans and lower bodies of snakes.
One of the Naginis was called Ganya and she was the goddess of the spirit realms.
She protected the underwater treasures but also the spiritual treasures like knowledge and hidden knowledge,
The secrets.
She was depicted to have a jewel in her forehead which also symbolizes wisdom.
She also had wings on her shoulders and a magical seashell and she pours water to the seashell and that represents the wisdom of humanity.
It's a very beautiful symbol.
The king of all Nagas was called Sesha and he was the ruler of the universe.
He was the creator god.
Sesha was interesting because he was described to be a half-man,
Half-cobra.
So he would have these cobra-like hoods where he held the planets.
So he was the representation of the universe as well.
He's often described to be on this wave-like draft which flows endlessly in the universe in the cosmic ocean.
The belief for the Nagini and Naga comes from the Vedic tradition.
The Nagas live in lakes,
Rivers and streams in underwater palaces where they guard magnificent treasures.
The Nagas have many roles from the keepers of knowledge and being the holders of wisdom,
Ancient wisdom.
Like many water deities they are creators and they are destroyers.
Sometimes they are destroyers when the mankind destroys the planet like many other mermaid type of creatures.
The Nagas and Naginis can also be seen as fertility symbols.
They represent transformation and immortality.
A Naga can take a form of a human but sometimes they can also have seven heads.
In the Hindu mythology the daughter of Shiva was called Manasa and she was a very famous Nagini.
She was able to cure snake bites and poisons.
In Finnish mythology we have something similar because if you would say the origin,
The birth myth of the snake,
Then you could actually use that when a snake bite was being healed.
So it's very interesting that there's this kind of parallel and India and Finland are pretty far away from each other.
Manasa was the daughter of Shiva and according to a legend she actually saved her father's life with her snake bite healing abilities when Shiva unknowingly drank poison.
Manasa's brother was called Vasuki and he was a king of snakes.
He had a gemstone in his forehead and in Buddhism he's one of the Nagas who protect Buddha,
Siddhartha Gautama.
Buddhism originated from Hinduism,
So you can find lots of Hindu legends also from Buddhism.
In Hindu mythology Vasuki is the leader of Nagas who protect the god Vishnu.
One of the Nagas was called Varuna and he was the ruler of weather and he would control the storms and the rain.
He was probably also connected to fertility.
In some legends Varuna was the ruler of oceans and the seas and some people even credit him as the creator of the cosmos and the universe.
