Naag Devta

The “Panchmi tithi” of lunar calendar in the month of shravana shukla paksha is celebrated as “Naag-panchmai” in India. On this day people pray to snake god. As per legend the snakes also consumed the “Amrit”, the divine nector and attained immortality. They are the children of Sage Kashyapa and Kadru. The kingdom of snakes is “Paatal Lokam”.According to hindu mythology there are 9 snake which are worshipped. They are as follows
1) Vasuki(The snake who participated in the great churning of ocean)
2) Takshak(The powerful snake who killed King Parikshit)
3) Sesha (On which Lord Vishnu resides in vaikunth)
4) Ananta (the great devotee of Lord Vishnu)
5) Kailya (who was killed by lord Krishna and attain the moksham)
6) Padmanabha (the guardian snake)
7) Kambala (the powerful descend of snake kingdom)
8) Dhartarashtra(the powerful descend of snake kingdom)
9) Shankhapala(the powerful descend of snake kingdom)

The pooja is done to avoid snakes bites and get rid of their curse from previous birth. In a horoscope if there is a presence of Kaal-Sarpa Yoga, then this day is very important for that native because this dosha is caused by the Rahu and Ketu which are considered as head and tail of snake respectively. In certain cases these planets single handedly creates havoc in the horoscope by forming “sarpa dosham”. There are many methods to perform the pooja on this day. People keep fast.on this day. Generally a pot of milk is kept near the ant hill as an offering. On this day digging of ground is strictly prohibited.

Garuda Ganga

Enroute to Badrinath, there is a place where Garuda,the eagle(the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) prayed for many years to remove his sin. The river passes through this place is called Garuda Ganga. The placed is so sacred that  r the journey of  Badrinath commences only after worshipping of Garuda at this place. In other words its a gateway to Badrinath.Also every  rock  found in this river is considered sacred and used as worship. This is the only river that flows northward direction to merge with sacred river Alaknanda.As per legend once Lord Shiva visited Lord Vishnu. He saw that Garuda had caught his snake,Vasuki, who was wandering. To save his life the snake yelled for the help.Lord Vishnu intervened and commanded Garuda to let the snake go. But the Garuda answered with pride that if he would not allow him to eat the snake then Lord Vishnu would not be able to use him as his vehicle because he would be in the state of hunger. Lord Vishnu understood that Garuda is answering in his pride. He said that he could eat snake as a meal if  he able to bear the weight of his little finger on his back. This was the most easiest task for Garuda. When Lord Vishnu kept his little finger on the back of Garuda, he found it too heavy to move even for an inch.Garuda collapsed due to load. Garuda asked for the forgiveness for his sin. Lord Vishnu asked him to pray at the bank of river to get rid of his sin. So Garuda followed the command of his master. After the completion of prayer Lord Vishnu blessed him that every stone here at the bank of this river is blessed and the river would be known as " Garuda Ganga" .Also the this place would be the starting point of Badrinath region.

Naag Devta

After the death of King Parkishit, his son Janmejaya felt to took revenge against snakes because snake Takshak had bitten his father. He arrange a Yagya. Each Day the fire of Yagya consume one snake. As a result many snakes died .This hurt a lot to the king of snakes, Vasuki. He went to his sister Jaratkaru for the help . As per Brahama only her son, Aasteek had a power to stop this Yagya. Aasteek was too a great scholar and was too young. But he agreed for the help. After assuring Vasuki, Aasteek left for the venue of the Yagya. On listening to the sweet voice of Aasteek, Janmejaya gave him permission to attend the Yagya and called him inside the premises. Janmejaya was highly impressed by the knowledge of Aasteek. He thought that he should grant the boy a wish. At the same time Janmejaya then requested to all those who were present there to ensure that his Yagya was successful and that soon Takshak (the snake who had bitten his father, Parikshit), would fall into the fires of the Yagya and die. Since it was the turn of Takshak to die so he hide himself in Indralok. Hearing this Janmejaya requested the sages and priests to chant such a mantra that even Indra would be powerless before it and would fall into the fire with Takshak. On listening this, the priests did as they were told and soon Takshak along with Indra was pulled towards the fire. Now that Janmejaya was assured that his enemy would die, he turned to Aasteek and requested him to ask for anything that he wished for. Aasteek, seeing that Takshak would soon fall into the fire, took advantage of the situation and asked Janmejaya to stop the Snake Yagya so that the snakes who were left could survive. This shocked Janmejaya but he could not refuse what he had promised. Janmejaya had to relent and stooped the Yagya .Takshak was relieved Aasteek then left to go to Vasuki, his Uncle and Jaratkaru, his mother and narrated the whole incident to them. They blessed Aasteek and asked him to ask them for a boon. Aasteek wished that anyone who chanted the three mantras given by him at least once a day, should be spared death by a snake bite. He then chanted the three Mantras called Asit, Aartiman and Suneeth. The snakes granted Aasteek his wish and it is believed that if one chants one of these mantras even once a day, he will have nothing to fear from the snakes.