The Nagas are also known as apsaras, or elemental nymphs who preside over both the natural world as well as the unseen. They are petitioned for weather-related blessings, and it is considered highly disrespectful to pollute environments in which they are said to live. Washing soiled clothes in a Naga – inhabited stream can result in illnesses or Naga afflictions, such as cancer and skin disease.

Naga Kanya is most often depicted as a woman with the lower body of a serpent, the torso of a human female, and bird wings, with hooded cobras presiding up above her crown and a conch shell in her hands. Some stories and images depict her with 5 cobras, others with 7 or 9. The number of snakes above Naga Kanya’s crown indicates one who has accessed a very high level of initiation; a fully activated Kundalini energy.