Worshippers at Tauleshwornath Mahadev Temple in Taulihawa celebrated Naag Panchami on Thursday by offering prayers and offering to live snakes.

Devotees offered milk, vermillion powder, sandalwood and flowers to the serpents at the temple premises brought by snake charmers.

Nag Panchami is celebrated on the fifth day of the moonlit-fortnight in the month of Shrawan (between July and August).

Devotees since early today morning have thronged various religious places like Nag Daha, Tau Daha, Pashupatinath and Nag Pokhari in the Capital to worship the serpent god. Shiva temples were also favoured places for veneration as snakes are considered dear to him.

Here are some interesting facts about the festival and the snake:

• Ploughing and digging is forbidden on Nag Panchami because it might inadvertently kill a snake.
• In Hindu mythology snakes represent rain and are often regarded as the deities of ponds and rivers.
• While all serpents and snakes are worshippers, the main ritual even is to offer milk and crystallized sugar to cobra
• Cobra is short for cobra de capelo or cobra-de-capelo, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood" or "hood-snake"
• There are 270 different types of Cobras and their relatives, they all have short fangs and are all extremely poisonous.
• When threatened, the Indian Cobra will raise the front one-third of its body and elongate its neck ribs to form its distinctive hood, on which there are resembled eyes.
• King cobras can reach 18 feet in length, making them the longest of all venomous snakes
• A spitting cobra is any of several species of cobras that can project venom from their fangs when defending themselves. The sprayed venom is harmless but it could cause temporary blindness. Some species spit their venom as far as 6.6 feet!