Trimbakeshwar · Nashik

Narayan Nagbali Puja

नारायण नागबली पूजा

About this puja

Narayan Bali and Nag Bali are two separate vidhis, placed on consecutive days. Narayan Bali is the rite kept for a departed member of the family whose last rites could not be completed in the ordinary way. Nag Bali is performed with a naag shaped from wheat flour.

The paddhati sets the two one after the other, and the whole of it runs across three days, with the closing pujan, the havan and the daan on the third.

It is performed at Trimbakeshwar, partly on the bank of the Godavari and partly inside the mandir precinct. This is the town families travel to for it, which is why most of them book three nights here.

When families perform it

Where a death in the family was sudden or unnatural and the usual rites could not be completed.
Where the family wishes to perform rites that were never done for an elder.
On tithis the purohit sets aside for it — the three days must run one after the other.

On the day

First day: snan and sankalp at the ghat, then the Narayan Bali vidhi with pind daan.
Second day: pujan of the pishta naag, and the Nag Bali rite carried to its close.
Third day: the closing pujan and havan, then daan, aarti and prasad.