SerpentIconography
Shesha: Meaning
शेषShesha, also called Adishesha and Ananta, is the thousand-hooded king of serpents on whose coils Vishnu rests in the ocean of milk. He holds the earth on his hoods, stands for time that remains after dissolution, and is born on earth as Lakshmana and Balarama.
Borne byविVishnu
What does it symbolise?
Tradition holds
The name Shesha means the remainder: what is left when all else has dissolved. Tradition therefore reads him as time and as the endless support of the universe, and Ananta, the endless, as infinity. His service as Vishnu's bed, shade and seat makes him the model of devotion that serves in every form it can.
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