Battis Shirala used to be the snake village. then the court shut it down

South Maharashtra, Sangli district. For Nag Panchami the whole village of Battis Shirala would go out weeks before and catch live cobras — real ones, full venom, not defanged (they claimed). On the day, huge procession, blessing from the goddess Amba-bai, and women would worship the snakes at their ……