Ritual, ecology and reverence: Nagamandala links faith with environmental stewardship

A traditional serpent ritual scheduled later this week in coastal Karnataka is reviving an ancient ecological ethic embedded in Hindu belief — that reverence for nature is inseparable from spiritual life.

Industrialist and philanthropist G Ramakrishna Achar has announced that a two-day Nagamandala ceremony will be held on February 19-20 at Gau Dhama in Muniyalu village of Hebri taluk, Udupi district. The ritual is positioned both as a spiritual invocation and a symbolic pledge toward environmental protection, preceding his proposal to institute a farmers’ honour platform recognising agricultural labour and stewardship of the land.

What is special about this event is that every ritual will be performed in the classical way with using natural pigments for alankaras, the event site will be lit up by traditional oil lamps and torches in a ‘Gau Dhama’ (cow farm).

At the heart of the initiative lies a layered cultural idea: the sacred cow and the serpent are viewed in traditional lore as guardians of the earth. A long-held belief describes the serpent deity as upholding ecological balance, while the cow is revered as a universal mother figure. Together, they represent a cosmology in which soil, water, fire, air and space — the five elemental forces — are honoured as living presences rather than abstract resources.

The Nagamandala ritual historically took place in forest clearings, where natural pigments, soft chanting and lamplight were used to avoid disturbing the environment. Elders consecrated serpent shrines beneath trees, creating sacred groves protected from felling — an early conservation ethic embedded within devotion.

Organisers say the upcoming ceremony seeks to recreate that ethos. Only a limited quantity of ceremonial flowers traditionally associated with serpent worship will be used, and the event will be paired with the distribution of saplings to encourage replanting. The symbolism is deliberate: ritual consumption balanced by ecological renewal.

Achar frames the ceremony as an extension of agrarian respect. By linking the ritual to a proposed farmers’ recognition initiative, he hopes to spotlight the labour that sustains soil health and food systems. In this narrative, honouring the serpent — seen as a protector of natural cycles — becomes a metaphor for safeguarding the ecological foundations of farming itself.

Cultural observers note that serpent worship across southern India has historically functioned as a moral ecology, embedding environmental restraint within ritual obligation. Sacred groves, taboo zones and seasonal ceremonies preserved biodiversity long before conservation entered policy language.

By situating the Nagamandala within a contemporary sustainability context, organisers aim to demonstrate that traditional cosmologies still offer living frameworks for ecological responsibility — where faith, farming and environmental care converge in a shared cultural continuum.