Page "Nāga" Paragraph 5

The epic frequently characterizes Nagas as having a mixture of human and serpent-like traits.

Sometimes it characterizes them as having human traits at one time, and as having serpent-like traits at another.

For example, the story of how the Naga prince Sesha came to hold the world on his head begins with a scene in which he appears as a dedicated human ascetic, " with knotted hair, clad in rags, and his flesh, skin, and sinews dried up owing to the hard penances he was practising.

" Brahma is pleased with Shesha, and entrusts him with the duty of carrying the world.

At that point in the story, Shesha begins to exhibit the attributes of a serpent.

He enters into a hole in the Earth and slithers all the way to bottom, where he then loads the Earth onto his head.

( Book I: Adi Parva, Section 36.