Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.2096

c8.2096

7) *Pātāla*. This is the abode of serpents. The nāgalokādhipatis (chiefs of the serpent world) like Vāsuki, Śaṅkha, Gulika, Śveta, Dhanañjaya Mahāśikha, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Saṅkhacūḍa, Kambala, Aśvadhara and Devadatta live here. These are all strong, long-bodied, greatly poisonous snakes with very bad tempers. They all possess hoods varying in numbers from five to hundred and the lustre of the diamonds on their hoods keeps the region of Pātāla always illuminated. At the base of this Pātāla-world is a place, separated from the rest, thirty thousand yojanas in area. It is here that the tāmasic Viṣṇukalā resides under the name Ananta. Ādiśeṣa or Ananta is the manifestation of this Viṣṇukalā. Śrī Ananta has got a name Saṅkarṣaṇa meaning one who proudly and arrogantly pulls at every thing that is seen and unseen.