Thousands descend on Battis Shirala every year to worship live snakes on Nag Panchami commemorating the slaying of Kalia, the evil serpent by Lord Krishna. Shruti Murkutkar looks at the spectacle
In
common parlance, a snake usually has negative connotations: it is a
deadly creature not to be trusted. But in the small town of Battis
Shirala, 60 km from Sangli, people not only live in harmony with
poisonous snakes but also worship these objects of dread.
Thousands
of devotees descend on the town – it got its name because it is located
amid a cluster of 32 big and small villages – on Nag Panchami day every
year.
The day commemorates the legend of Lord Krishna’s slaying of Kalia the evil serpent.
In
Maharashtra and elsewhere in India, the usual practice is to worship
snakes in the form of clay and mud idols installed in temples and homes.
But the residents of Shirala do not believe in paying obeisance to
inanimate snakes. They catch live snakes, often poisonous ones, and then
shower their faith on the serpents.
A
hilly town nestled in thick forests, Battis Shirala has no less than 75
snake mandals (clubs). It is not without reason that it is referred to
as a land of snakes.
The
villages around the densely-populated Battis Shirala are infested by
snakes because, as the locals point out, the land here is soft and the
climate is humid round the year.
The
sarpanch of Battis Shirala, Devendra Patil, says Nag Panchami has been a
huge religious occasion for these villages for over a hundred years.
But
it is believed that the tradition began much earlier than only a
hundred years ago. There are references to the snakes of Shirala in the
songs of renowned 17th century Marathi saint-poet Samarth Ramdas.
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Ramdas had travelled from Kolhapur to Shahapur in the year 1645 and was believed to have passed through Shirala.
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Dhere, an authority on the literature of the Marathi saints, has also
cited the Nag Panchami festival of Shirala in one of his books.
Snakes
are such an integral part of the existence of these villagers that many
residents of Shirala sport cobra tattoos. Shirala also has a town
square called Nag Katta.
A
sea of devout humanity converges on the town on the fifth day of
amavasya (no moon day) in the month of Shravan to worship the snake god.
On this day, people offer milk, bananas and coconut to snakes.
In
run-up to the Nag Panchami festivities, after Ashadi Purnima, the
villagers of Shirala fan out in different directions and start hunting
for live snakes and poisonous cobras in nearby forests. The snakes are
traced with the help of the trail thet they leave behind on the soil as
they slither around.
The
villagers are expert snake catchers and employ the usual methods of
trapping a serpent. A stick is placed on the snake’s tail to prevent it
from getting away and then the serpent is grabbed just below its hood
and stuffed into a gunny bag or a mud pot.
On
Nag Panchami day, the mandals (snake clubs) carry these snakes in a
procession to a temple, where they seek the blessings of the goddess
Amba Bai.
The
captured snakes are then taken to Gorakhnath Temple for further
rituals. People feed milk to snakes and perform special pujas.
The
villagers take special care to ensure that the snakes are not injured
during the annual festival. Once the rituals are over, the reptiles are
released into their natural surroundings and allowed to return to the
spots from where they were originally caught.
Shirala
has followed this custom since well before the cobra was put on the
list of protected animals under the Indian Wildlife Act 1972.
Legend
has it that on the day of Nag Panchami, saint Gorakhnath once visited
the town and stopped by for alms at the residence of a ‘Mahajan’ family,
and demanded alms.
There
he saw some women worshiping images of large snakes drawn on a wall.
Touched by this gesture and impressed with their love for animals, the
saint presented them with a live snake and instructed them to worship a
live snake every year.
Since
then snakes are worshipped in every village of Battis Shirala. Nag
Panchami is today as much a social event as it is a religious occasion
with entertainment and competition thrown in.
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