Saravana Bhava

Lord Subrahmanya also has a name ‘Saravana Bhava’ .
What does ‘Saravana’ mean? ‘Sara’ in Sanskrit means dried grass (‘dharba’ grass). So ‘Sara vana’ refers to a forest of dharba grass. Generally such a forest is very cool.
The skin of the snake is very tender and it often looks for a cool place to live. Hence snakes find home (‘bhava’) in the ‘saravana’.
It is because of the same reason that, in the Subrahmanya kshetra (in the West Coast of India), the deity is only a ‘naga’ (snake) carved in stone.