Naga Panchami and living snake-veneration practices in Maharashtra and Karnataka

Record summary

Contemporary Naga Panchami observances in Maharashtra and Karnataka provide a documented setting for studying serpent veneration, household offerings, shrine traditions, and stories of reciprocal relations between humans and snakes. Oral narratives may include naga beings who appear in human form or marry humans, but festival practice itself does not establish physical shapeshifting. The lead is useful for comparing ritual continuity with cinematic ichchhadhari nagin stories and with regional snake legends. Local calendars, temple records, interviews, and ethnographies are necessary because practice varies widely.