Note 30 — Chapter VII · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Reading edition
Earthen images of snakes are worshipped by some people in the Konkan districts on the Nága panchami day. The Nága is considered to be a Bráhman by caste, and it is believed that the family of the person who kills a snake becomes extinct. The cobra being considered a Bráhman, its dead body is adorned with the jánawe, and then burnt as that of a human being. A copper coin is also thrown into its funeral pile.30