Baltis Shirala is famed for its Hindu fertility festival known as Nag Panchami. Taking place in August, the first two weeks leading up to the main day of the festival are taken up by multiple teams of five to ten boys and men going out into the fields and seeing how many Cobras they can catch. Its risky business as one Cobra contains enough venom to kill fifteen men. Members of teams have died on more than one occasion whilst digging out the snakes. At the end of the two week competition...
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Baltis Shirala is famed for its Hindu fertility festival known as Nag Panchami. Taking place in August, the first two weeks leading up to the main day of the festival are taken up by multiple teams of five to ten boys and men going out into the fields and seeing how many Cobras they can catch. Its risky business as one Cobra contains enough venom to kill fifteen men. Members of teams have died on more than one occasion whilst digging out the snakes. At the end of the two week competition around six hundred Cobras have been caught. The Cobras are then blessed by putting small garlands around their neck, once the festival is over they are released back into the wild.
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