On Naag Panchami day today, ensure that these reptiles that are so part of our culture, don't perish, due to our blind faith by worshipping them symbolically
Next time if you see a snake being offered milk, parched pulses and a few coins, don't be surprised if the snake left the coins for his master. Experts in the field inform a snake neither has sharp vision nor does it hear, and consumes food merely out of extended days of hunger.
Animal welfare organisers plead to all devotees to worship the Naag devta symbolically
Says naturalist Vijay Awsare, “A snake-charmer will keep a snake hungry and thirsty for days together. A cobra for example, will stand tall when the lid of the casket is lifted, as it craves for fresh air. On being offered milk, that many believe is a snake’s favourite food, the reptile is only quenching its thirst without realising what it is drinking. Snakes lack the sense of distinguishing one food from another. The only liquid they can identify is water, and that too is not sharp as snakes have a poor vision.”
States Neelam Khere, Director, Katraj Snake Park, Pune, “Milk was never in the snake’s food chain. In Hindu culture, milk and milk products are offered to almost all deities. And, since we consider cobras to be our God, they too are offered milk.
However, people need to understand that milk is dangerous to the snake’s health, as a snake’s body cannot digest milk. When a snake drinks milk thinking it to be water, they vomit out everything that they consume, and end up purging out other vital body fluids, making them dehydrated. Snake-charmers or those rescuing snakes don’t realise this, when they delay their release, and as a result the snake dies.
“Five years ago, the government had revealed a huge figure of 80, 000 snakes that met death on Naag Panchami. Fortunately, though the death rate of snakes has dropped, the survey to show the exact figures is yet to be carried out. Drop in the death rate is due to awareness that various animal welfare NGOs have created in the city. However, there are still stringent steps to be taken to curb the practice of snake-charmers completely.”
Take on snakes
Animal welfare organisation PAWS, Plants and Animals Welfare Society have found through studies that the ancient scripts do not mention worship of live snakes, as it is done these days. This practice has led to capturing of thousands of cobras, rat snakes, pythons, boas.
Snakes, mostly cobras, are kept hungry and thirsty for days before the annual festival of Mahashivratri and Naag Panchami. Even boas are treated horribly. Snake-charmers make ‘eyes and a mouth’ burning holes in their tails with a match and putting hot wax in those holes to show two heads. They are de-fanged and their venom glands are punctured. In this condition, the snake cannot take any solid food, and is forced to drink the milk offered to it ‘religiously’.
Snakes choke, as the milk gets filled up in their lungs. Snakes are not adapted to drink or digest milk in the wild. Milk is a secretion given out from the mammary glands only in mammals and not in reptiles. A snake would not have any knowledge about milk, and would certainly not drink it. Most snakes we ‘worship’ die due to our blind faith. In the last few years, various animal welfare organisations have created awareness to save snakes and to worship the snake symbolically and refrain from patronising snake-charmers.
As per Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, it is a crime to catch snakes or any other wildlife and use them for business or even own them. As per Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, ill-treatment and maiming of snakes and other animals is prohibited.
Save the snakes
This year too, PAWS-Mumbai will hold a rescue and first-aid service on Naag Panchami, and there after too. Besides rescuing and giving first-aid to the snakes, PAWS will release them into natural habitat of the forest under the supervision of forest staff. This year Naag Panchami is being celebrated today, and if you come across any snake charmers or incidents of live snake worship near or inside a temple, then PAWS requests to give them a call on their helpline numbers 9892179542 / 9833480388.
The month of Shravan marks the beginning of the festival season and Naag Panchami, this year, today, on July 26, marks the onset of the festival of the Snake God. The fifth day of the waxing phase of the moon, Shravan shuddh panchami, is dedicated to the Snake God, when serpents are worshipped and offered milk, portraying the symbiotic relationship the farmer shares with the world of reptiles. Symbolically, the Snake God is always seen as an ornament around the neck of Lord Shiva. So, the festival also has mythological importance.
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