of manasa so sale plant (euphorbia lingularum) symbolizing the goddess Manasa is fixed on the ground and worshipped, not only in the month of Shravan, as in the rest of the country, but also in the month Bhadra Masa. Festival is held within the precincts of the house. South India In South India, snake is identified with Subramanya (Commander of the celestial army) and also with Shiva and Vishnu. In Karnataka, the preparation for the festival starts on the New Moon day of Bhimana Amavasya, five days prior to the festival day of Panchami. Girls offer prayers to the images made out of white clay painted with white dots. They take a vow by tying a thread dipped in turmeric paste on their right wrist and offer prayers. An image of snake is drawn on the floor in front of the house and milk is offered as oblation. On the night previous to the festival they keep complete fast or take a salt free diet. After the pooja, a food feast is held. In South India, both sculpted and live snakes are worshipped. Every village has a serpent deity. It is worshipped as a single snake or nine snakes called Nava Naga but the popular form is of two snakes in the form of an “Aesculapian rod”. Every worshipper in South India worships the anthill where the snakes are reported to reside. Women decorate the anthill with turmeric paste and vermillion and sugar mixed with wheat flour. They bedeck it with flowers with the help of threads tied to wooden frames. In Maharashtra, they go round the anthill in a worship mode five times singing songs in praise of snake gods. Another form of worship practiced by women, who have no children for various reasons, install stone statues of snakes below the peepal tree and offer worship seeking blessings of the snake god for bestowing them with children. This is done as it is believed snakes represent virility and have the gift of inducing fecundity curing barrenness. In Coorg in Karnataka, an ancestral platform called noka is installed with rough stones which are believed to be the ancestral incarnation in the form of snakes but they are not necessarily worshipped on Naga Panchami day. In Kerala, Ezhavas and Nairs are Serpent-worshipers. A shrine is normally established for snake god at the southwest corner of the ancestral house, along with temple