Overview

• Hundreds of devotees converged at Singhia Ghat in Samastipur carrying snakes draped around necks, coiled on sticks or balanced on heads in a display of religious devotion.
• The event opened with prayers at the Maa Bhagwati temple and a procession to the banks of the Budhi Gandak river for snake worship.
• Participants chanted the name of Mata Vishhari, performed symbolic feats and released the reptiles unharmed into nearby forested areas after the rituals.
• Local officials confirmed that no snakebite incidents or injuries occurred during this year’s fair.
• In Maharashtra, BJP legislators and the state forest minister have petitioned the central government to overturn a Bombay High Court ban on live cobra processions, prompting objections from wildlife conservationists.