Snakes in India

Snakes have been on my mind recently. We see them occasionally. A water snake (not poisonous) was caught in a neighbor's garden across the street last week. A cobra was caught on the driveway of the kids' school several weeks ago. Saw a snake slither across an empty lot yesterday. The photos in the adjoining post are from another Target family who lives 1 street away... this snake was found in their garage in October. I have been very wary of entering our garage since. Apparently, though, snakes come in only during certain seasons (monsoon, when eggs hatch, etc.). Still, I'm not terribly reassured. Many people living nearer to water or with big gardens find them in their homes occasionally. Happily, we are in neither category.

What's been interesting is the response of people here to snakes.

Snakes are considered good luck and are actively worshiped in Hinduism.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:
Snake worship refers to the high status of snakes or (nagas) in Hindu mythology. Nāga (Sanskrit:नाग) is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very large snake, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī. The Snake primarily represents rebirth, death and mortality, due to its casting of its skin and being symbolically "reborn". Over a large part of India there are carved representations of cobras or nagas or stones as substitutes. To these human food and flowers are offered and lights are burned before the shrines. Among the Dravidians a cobra which is accidentally killed is burned like a human being; no one would kill one intentionally. The serpent-god's image is carried in an annual procession by a celibate priestess.

Another informative site:
http://hubpages.com/hub/THE-SNAKE-GODS-OF-HINDUISM