There is an ancient snake temple in the premises of Lord Jyotirlinga Omkareshwar Temple located in the religious pilgrimage town of Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh, which is opened only once a year on Nag Panchami. According to the information received, when the doors of this ancient serpent Chandreshwar Mahadev open once a year, members of the royal family come here for worship. Not only this, during this time a large number of devotees are also present in the temple premises, who come here from far flung areas including pilgrimage cities to have darshan here on Nag Panchami.
From time immemorial, a stone serpent statue has been present near the sanctum sanctorum of the Jyotirlinga Lord Omkareshwar temple located in the pilgrimage city of Omkareshwar, which is worshiped once a year on Shukla Paksha Nag Panchami. This worship is performed by Vedic Brahmins. Here the first puja is performed by the royal family, after which the doors are opened for the devotees only for half an hour, and the puja is performed in the afternoon. Here the snake god is worshiped with Panchamrit milk. It is believed that a very ancient snake god resides here, whose worship has great importance. And once in a year, worship is done in this temple of Nag Devta during Madhyan Puja for just half an hour.
It is important only when worshiped by the royal family
Rao Devendra Singh Jung Bahadur, Managing Trustee of the same temple trust, said that the snake god is worshiped here only once a year in the month of Shravan, on Nag Panchami. And this has been going on since time immemorial. The worship of Lord Bholenath has been going on ever since. Since that time, the snake god is worshipped, and only if it is done by the royal family, it is considered important.
Panchamrit puja and consecration is done for Nagshila.
Here, Pandit Ramchandra Parsai, who conducts these pujas, said that Panchami of Shravan month is especially considered as Nag Panchami. The bell that sounds once a year in the Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga temple complex is of Garuda. An ancient Nagshila is built below it, where once a year, the Panchamrit Puja Abhishek of Lord Nagshila is done by the royal family and the royal priest, and all the devotees visit it.
