Nag Panchami
The festival of Nag Panchami, celebrated all over India in August, centres around the worship of cobras or snake gods and goddesses. In some places devotees bow before live cobras; in others, serpent images made of clay, dough, or silver are venerated. Worship generally includes pouring milk over the head of the snake or its idol also offered to snakes for drinking. It is considered auspicious if the reptile drinks the milk.
Nag Panchami is a time for snake charmers to make some money. They take the reptiles to towns and cities in round bamboo baskets. When they play the ‘been’, a musical instrument, the cobra coiled in the basket, stirs to life. It raises its head, spreads its hood and moves its head from side to side. One gets the impression that the snake is swaying to the music.
The Cobras of Shirala Battis: Shirala in Maharashtra's Sangli district is renowned for its celebration of the Nag Panchami festival. Shirala literally crawls with cobras during this time. Tourists pour in either to participate or gawk at the snakes or to witness the strange interaction between man and venomous reptiles.
Days before Nag Panchami, the countless nag mandals or youth clubs whose members specialise in trapping snakes go on a snake-catching spree in the surrounding countryside. Even the children of the village are quite fearless and handle the snakes as if they were toys.The cobras are put in clay pots and carried by bullock cart in a colourful procession to the Amba temple where they're worshipped throughout the day. They're released back into the wild once the festival is over.The people of Shirala believe that they're protected against snakebite because of an ancient boon granted to their ancestors by Shiva. They also realise that snakes are very useful in keeping the rat population under control, and they never harm the snakes. However, animal rights activists say the snakes undergo tremendous stress during the festival.
Snake Myths:
* When the snake charmer plays the 'been' the snake sways to the music.
False. Snakes don't have external ears. They cannot hear airborne sounds. They pick up vibrations of sound from the ground. They move their head from side to side when the snake charmer plays the 'been' because they're suspicious of the instrument and regard it as a possible threat. As the snake charmer keeps shifting the position of the 'been' the snake keeps moving its head from side to side so as to keep the instrument in sight all the time. Lizards have external ears but snakes don't.
* Snakes Loves Milk.
False. Snakes can't digest milk and normally don't drink it. However, if they were deprived of water for several days they would drink milk, or for that matter even Pepsi or Coke, to quench their thirst. Often, during Nag Panchami, snakes are forced to drink milk by their owners and many die as a result. Some people believe that snakes enter cowsheds and drink milk from cows. This, of course, is utter nonsense. Snakes sometimes enter cowsheds while chasing rats. The cows are tethered and cannot get out of the way. They cower in fright and some of them may get so scared that their milk dries up. This may make the farmer think that the snake has drunk their milk.
* Snakes can't lap up liquid with their forked tongue. When they're drinking water or any liquid they suck the liquid into their mouth and then force it into the oesophagus by contracting the mouth cavity.
