Naga Temple, Chowki Ghat, Varanasi
If I type “Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world” here, google and wikipedia will not bear witness. So, I’ll safely put here that Varanasi is the oldest living city in India, not even in Asia, alas! So, the oldest living city in India has seen birth, death and synthesis of many sects of Hinduism. This post is about the worship of nagas in Varanasi.
The word naga can be translated as snake. It is also the name of a set of tribal people. As Kashi, as Varanasi is denoted in many puranas, has been inhabited for millennia now, the socioreligious schema of the place can be metaphorically compared to its archaeological cross section. Diana L. Eck has put in her brilliant and lovely (I know, it’s not a scholarly adjective, but it’s true for her scholarly book), the autochthonous people of the region worshipped nature and animals long before the Hindu gods and goddesses had arrived. Snakes may well have been popular as a deity, or specially worshipped by a tribe named after them.
Varanasi has at least one snake temple and a well named the well of the snake: Nag Kuan. to show the traces of pure snake worship. Naga Panchami is a popular local festival in the city. The image above is of the famous Naga Temple at Chowki Ghat. The statues have only snakes with no other deity in them. The temple does have the presence of other images and idols but it remains mainly a snake temple.
rajnishmishravns 
We worship nature and animals in Hinduism along with other forms of God – for there is nothing but divinity in Sanathana Dharma. Even today Nag Panchami is celebrated all over India. I guess i don’t need Wikipedia to tell me Kashi is the oldest city – i believe the feeling in my heart and feel blessed to have gone there – and visit again and again with your words and pics. Thank you!