Vasuki is the great serpent-king of Hindu myth — one of the foremost of the Nagas, the king of serpents who serves as an ornament around the neck of Shiva, and who famously served as the churning-rope at the churning of the cosmic ocean. The serpent-king, Vasuki is the great Naga who coils around Shiva's neck and was used to churn the ocean of immortality.
The King of Serpents
Vasuki (Sanskrit Vāsuki) is one of the foremost and greatest of the Nagas (the divine serpents), a king of serpents, a being of immense size, power and antiquity. He is a great serpent-deity, often depicted as a colossal, jewel-hooded cobra, and he is especially associated with Shiva — for Vasuki is the great serpent who coils around the neck of Shiva as the god's living ornament and necklace, marking the close association of the great ascetic god with the serpent. As one of the chief Nagas (with Shesha and others), Vasuki is a powerful and important being in Hindu myth.
The Churning-Rope of the Ocean
Vasuki's most famous role is in the great churning of the ocean of milk (the Samudra Manthana). When the gods and demons sought to churn the cosmic ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, they used the great mountain Mandara as the churning-rod — and they used the colossal serpent Vasuki as the churning-rope, wrapping his immense body around the mountain. The gods pulled on one end (his tail) and the demons on the other (his head), spinning the mountain to churn the ocean. Through this tremendous cosmic labour, with Vasuki as the rope, the ocean was churned and the treasures and the nectar obtained. But the churning caused Vasuki great pain and strain, and from his mouths he emitted the deadly halahala poison — the world-threatening venom that arose from the churning, which Shiva drank to save the world (holding it in his blue throat). Vasuki, the great serpent-rope, endured the strain of the churning that won the gods their immortality.
The Serpent of Shiva
Vasuki's close association with Shiva — coiled around the great god's neck — is one of his defining features. The serpent around Shiva's neck represents Shiva's mastery over the most dangerous and powerful of creatures, his control over death and venom (the serpent being deadly), and the deep connection between the great ascetic god and the serpent-world. Vasuki, as the great Naga who serves as Shiva's ornament, is honoured as a powerful and noble serpent-king, devoted to and ennobled by his association with the great god. As one of the foremost Nagas, he is also a king of the serpent-realm, a being of power, and (like the other great Nagas) a guardian and a figure of reverence.
The Great Serpent-King
Vasuki endures as the great serpent-king of Hindu myth — one of the foremost Nagas, the serpent who coils around Shiva's neck, the churning-rope of the cosmic ocean. He embodies the power and nobility of the great serpents, the close association of the serpent with the god Shiva, and the great cosmic role of the churning of the ocean; and he stands as the serpent-king — the great Naga who adorns the neck of Shiva and who served as the rope with which the gods and demons churned the ocean of immortality, enduring the strain that won the gods their deathlessness.
The great serpent-king who coils around the neck of Shiva and served as the rope with which the gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean — the noble Naga whose strain helped win the nectar of immortality.