From The Deep Dwellers by WM Michael Mott

Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent, Tibet, Nepal, China, and Japan, have very similar traditions about subterranean inhabitants. In India there is a strong belief in the reality of the Nagas, a race of serpent-people or lizard-men who make their homes in two major underground cities (or civilizations), Patala and Bhogavati. The latter is said to be under the Himalayas, and from there the Nagas wage war on other, human, subterraneans, from the subsurface kingdoms of Agharta and Shambala. To this day, Patala is believed by millions of Hindus to have an entrance in the Well of Sheshna, in Benares. According to herpetologist and author Sherman A. Minton, as stated in his book "Venomous Reptiles," this entrance is very real, with forty steps which descend into a circular depression, to terminate at a closed stone door which is covered in bas-relief cobras. In Tibet, there is a major mystical shrine also called "Patala," which is said by the people there to sit atop an ancient cavern and tunnel system, which reaches throughout the Asian continent and possibly beyond. The Nagas also have an affinity with water, and the entrances to their underground palaces are often said to be hidden at the bottom of wells, deep lakes, and rivers.

Well worth reading:

The Deep Dwellers
http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/themagazine/vol10/articles/pics/dwellers1.shtml


Size of Light, aka SOL, posted about this at another group.  He said several years ago he'd got hold of a Nexus Magazine special edition "Strange Times" which is a compilation of numerous excellent articles covering a variety of strange phenomena, including 'subterranean mysteries', and that he was intrigued by a detailed and comprehensive article by WM Michael Mott entitled "The Deep Dwellers", which chronicles the various legends of subterranean dwellers around the world, and has a heavy emphasis on the reptilian races.

In it Mott wrote:

In India, there is still a strong belief in the reality of Nagas - a race of "serpent people" or "lizard men" who have made their homes in two major underground cities (or civilisations), Bhogavati and Patala.

Bhogavati is believed to be underneath the Himalayas, and it is said that from there the Nagas wage war on other human subterraneans from the subsurface kingdoms of Agharta and Shambala.

Patala is believed by millions of Hindus to this day to have an entrance in the Well of Sheshna in Benares. According to herpetologist and author Sherman A. Minton in his book Venemous Reptiles, this entrance is very real, having 40 steps which descend into a circular depression and then terminate at a closed stone door covered in bas-relief cobras. In Tibet there is a major mystical shrine, also called Patala, which is said by the people there to sit atop an ancient cavern and tunnel system which reaches throughout the Asian continent and possibly beyond.

SOL said he hadn't been able to find much online about the actual location of this mysterious site until recently, when he came across a travel blog that claims to have located the Well of Sheshna.

"The story and photos follow. I hope you find it is interesting as I did":

Varanasi - Well of Sheshna

One of our favorite experiences was finding the Well of Patanjali in Sheshna. Three years ago when Mark and a group of devotees last visited Varanasi, they were taken to another well and told that it was Patanjali's. Mark knew it wasn't THE ONE because he couldn't sense the Nagas there.

This trip we tried again to find it. Finding the Well of Sheshna is a very well kept secret in Varanasi and one of our dear Polish friends, Yogananda, did extensive research as to where we could find it. One of our drivers called him on his cell phone and Yogananda guided him and the rest of us to this very incredible spot. They have even built a gym on top of it to further disguise it, but having discovered it, there was no doubt that this was the real place where Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras at the very bottom of the well.

Imagine a gym built right on top of the well. Look down the steps and what do you see?...



Here's what the well looked like...



Some of us enjoyed going down to the water's edge or walking the stairs...



Paige looks both like a goddess in person and in her reflection in the pool of water...



Lauren, Mark B. and Stephanie reflectively by the water's edge...





While others of us preferred to sit on the steps at the top in meditation, or soaking the whole experience in...



The architecture of the well reminded us of the famous MC Escher drawing...



It is said that 30 feet down at the bottom, is a door that leads to another world, the world of the Naga, the reptile-like semi-divine beings who live below the earth. "The book "VENOMOUS REPTILES" states that "Sheshna's well", an alleged opening into the underground reptilian realm of "Patala", may be seen today in Benares, (Varnasi) India, and according to Minton, it's author: "It has forty steps leading down into a circular depression to a stone door covered with cobras. This is said to lead to PATALA, the reptile netherworld". Every three years, they empty the water and have a very incredible celebration. Next emptying is June, 2009.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090605164850/http://blog.podsweb.com:80/2008/03/17/varanasi--well-of-sheshna-and-sarnath-home-of-the-buddha.aspx

SOL wrote:So if anyone is planning a future trip to India, maybe if you're in Benares around June 2012 when they drain this well again, you might be able to get some incredible photos of the underwater door and it's bas-relief cobras.

I'm going to try to get back to that video. I had it loading yesterday when company came pouring in, then I found myself at the sewing machine hemming a pair of new jeans for someone, then someone had need of using the internet and so I paused sewing and x'd out of a lot of tabs, including the youtube tab... and yada, yada... now if I can get back to it and resume from where I left off.

Utterly fascinating! thank you!!

Thank you!