There are many temples of snakes on the land of India, one of these temples is Nagchandreshwar’s Mandi in Ujjain, which is situated on the third floor of the famous Mahakal temple of Ujjain.
The special thing about this Nagchandreshwar temple is that this temple is opened only on one day in a year on Nagpanchami (Shravan Shukla Panchami) for the darshan of common devotees. It is believed that Nagraj Takshak himself resides in this temple.
This temple of Nagchandreshwar also has a wonderful statue of 11th century, in this amazing statue of Nagchandreshwar Shiva-Parvati are sitting on the seat of a snake spreading its hood. It is said that this statue was brought here from Nepal. Apart from Ujjain, there is no such statue anywhere in the world.
This is the only temple in the whole world, in which Lord Bholenath is seated on a snake bed instead of Lord Vishnu. In the ancient idol installed in the temple, Shivaji, Ganeshji and Mother Parvati are seated on a ten-mukhi snake bed. Bhujang is wrapped around the neck and arms of Shivashambhu.
कहते हैं यह प्रतिमा नेपाल से यहां लाई गई थी। उज्जैन के अलावा दुनिया में कहीं भी ऐसी प्रतिमा नहीं है।
Sarparaj Takshak did severe penance to persuade Shivshankar. Bholenath was pleased with his penance and he gave the boon of immortality to Takshak Nag, the king of snakes. It is believed that from then on the Takshak king started living in the company of the Lord.
But before residing in the Mahakal forest, it was his intention that there should not be any disturbance in his solitude, so it has been the practice for years that he is available for general darshan only on the day of Nagpanchami. The rest of the time the temple remains closed as per tradition in his honor. After visiting this temple, a person becomes free from any kind of snake defects, so there is a long queue of devotees outside this temple which opens on the day of Nagpanchami.