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Armed with a camera and curiosity, Kolkata-based wildlife communicator Oishimaya Sen Nag has trekked through dense forests to explore India’s deep-rooted relationship with snakes.
On a warm summer evening, she opened up about her adventures in the Western Ghats where she came away with more than just close encounters—and learned a great deal about human-snake coexistence.
“The best part was that I came across several species of snakes, including venomous saw-scaled vipers, Malabar pit vipers, and hump-nosed vipers, and how people live close to them.”Oishimaya Sen Nag
Of Mountains, King Cobras and Faith
The Western Ghats are a renowned global biodiversity hotspot. So, it is not surprising that Sen Nag visited this landscape thrice for herping and macro photography.
Her first trip took her to Agumbe, a rainforest in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district known for its king cobras. She later explored the Someshwar Wildlife Sanctuary near Mangalore and the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary in Goa.
“On these walks, herpetofauna lovers and guides also joined. The trips helped me understand how existing cultural beliefs of local communities allow snakes to thrive in India," she said.
"While our group in Agumbe wore protective gear like leech socks and gum boots for protection, a village guide was clad in a loose shirt, dhoti, and chappals."Oishimaya Sen Nag
She then went on to share how the guide took her to his house in the middle of the forest and pointed out Malabar pit vipers wrapped around tree branches outside the gate. "Like many Indians, his family not only worships snakes, but actually shares space with them," she said.
What also caught Sen Nag’s attention in the jungle were numerous shrines dedicated to serpents.
She explained that these shrines, where local communities often gather to worship, underline the human-snake coexistence in India.
One of Sen Nag’s guides during her walks was Mangalore-based Pradeep Nayak who shared that the spectacled cobra (naja naja) is worshipped in the Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka.
“Wherever there is the Tulu-speaking community, there is the culture of offering worship to the cobra,” he said.
Nayak pointed out that there is a belief that if someone spots a dead cobra, a difficult time may ensue. So, people offer prayers at these Naga temples or shrines. In the villages, people visit the shrines and even bigger temples during the Naga Panchami festival.
This is the exact opposite of snake slaughter, like the rattlesnake roundups organised in Texas, United States, during which a large number of snakes are caught and killed.
“In India, snakes are revered, not feared. This was evident from the existence of so many snake shrines, which I noticed on my trips. While some had snake idols resting on platforms in the open, others were more elaborate temples with either snake images painted on gates or snakes ornately carved and decked up in flowers and vermilion,” Sen Nag added.
Coexistence Despite Dangers
India has a high incidence of human-snake conflicts, leading to mortality.
A study published in eLife estimates that India recorded 1.2 million snakebite deaths between 2000 and 2019—an average of 58,000 deaths per year. Nearly half were among people aged 30-69, while over a quarter were children under 15.
In interior and rural areas, the healthcare delivery system is poor, leading to high mortality rates due to snakebite envenoming, so much so that it is classified as a neglected tropical disease.
Despite this, people show a high amount of tolerance.
Sen Nag shared a tale about a cobra-human encounter from the Sundarbans in eastern India, which harbours abundant snake species and many people succumb to snakebites, but still faith persists.
The story goes like this: Once a cobra stood up in front of a crab catcher while he was rowing a boat. But the snake did not harm him. Rather, according to the man, it came to warn him about a tiger attack in another boat.
The Sundarbans, highly vulnerable to climate change, have seen a rise in heavy rainfall, as noted in the West Bengal State Action Plan on Climate Change—a shift that creates ideal conditions for snakes to thrive.
Here, it is common to worship Manasa, a serpent goddess, especially during the monsoon, to seek protection from snakebites, says Arunabha Das of Sabuj Sangha, a grassroots organisation. Temples dedicated to her can be found across the Sundarbans.
In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, too, where memory pillars are dedicated to the deceased, it is common to find the images of animals either painted on wooden ones or else engraved on some of these stone memorials. Snakes are depicted, along with other animals, pointing to the tribal belief in biodiversity preservation in a state with dense forest cover.
Sen Nag explained that through such beliefs, conflict situations could be controlled and even minimised to an extent.
But she feels that as cultural beliefs are fast changing, people may not show the same level of tolerance 20 years down the line, especially when snakebite cases are predicted to rise due to climate change.
India is already witnessing impacts of a changing climate: long dry spells, heat waves, cyclones and extreme rainfall events.
Climate Change and Snakes
Chhattisgarh, a state significantly impacted by climate change, released its State Action Plan on Climate Change back in 2014.
Its more recent State Action Plan for Climate Change and Human Health (2022-2027) notes that snakebites are increasing as snakes migrate in response to shifting climate patterns, making human-snake conflicts more frequent.
Acknowledging the growing threat, the Centre launched the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Snakebite Envenoming last year, aiming to reduce snakebite deaths by half by 2030.
“When heavy rainfall occurs in the monsoon, snakes come out and bite cases witness a spike during the season. But there is usually a dearth of anti-venom,” pointed out Punita Kumar, who leads the technical cell for the Chhattisgarh National Programme of Climate Change and Human Health at the State Health Resources Centre in Raipur.
Although many people still turn to quacks instead of hospitals due to prevailing social myths, awareness programmes at both the community and health centre levels have proven effective, said Kumar.
However, as some parts of Chhattisgarh such as Bastar receive heavy rainfall, many villages are cut off, making the delivery of healthcare challenging in times of crisis.
M Suraj of Nova Nature Welfare Society, an organisation which rescues snakes across the state, said earlier there used to be a specific time period for snake babies or snakelets to hatch from eggs, but now that time has advanced.
“Snakes mate in the summers (March-April), and at the start of monsoon, the babies are hatched. The incubation period roughly lasts 80 days. But now, the babies are coming out early,” he said.
Suraj also explained that due to a changing climate, snakes are migrating, as they are sensitive to temperatures and prefer humidity.
This may explain why banded kraits once limited to the northern part of Chhattisgarh, are now found in the south.
Akash Verma, an Indian Forest Officer (2023 batch, West Bengal cadre) and currently on probation in Dehradun, is fascinated with snakes. “I do not find it surprising that people in India continue to revere and worship snakes despite frequent snakebite cases. Snakes are sacred in the Indian culture and associated with some of the deities. I have studied the cultural and religious aspects of snake shrines in southern India as well."
The officer explained that snakebites usually occur when snakes either feel threatened or are accidentally disturbed.
Rather than harbouring fear and hostility, there is a need for greater awareness, habitat protection and better response systems to save lives due to a high number of snakebite cases.
Additionally, there is an increased need to understand the impact of climate change on snake populations.
“Snakes are fascinating and beautiful creatures, and are often viewed as mythical and mysterious. They hold a significant place in our ecosystem. But snakes are still a relatively under-researched taxon, and there is still so much unknown about them,” Sen Nag says.
(Deepanwita Gita Niyogi is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist.)