A day of reverence for serpents (nagas), honored as guardians of water, fertility, and the underworld — offerings of milk are made at snake shrines and anthills, and Shiva is worshipped with the serpent Vasuki coiled at his neck in mind.
श्रावण शुक्ल पंचमी
The day is linked in some tellings to Krishna subduing the serpent Kaliya in the Yamuna — taming rather than killing him, and banishing him instead, a story of restraint over destruction.
Live snakes were traditionally brought by snake charmers for ritual worship in some regions, a practice increasingly replaced today by symbolic clay or drawn images amid wildlife conservation concerns.