"If you look at primordial deities, they are serpents, eggs, the sun and the moon - early humans associated divinity with these things that they could see. So, serpent worship existed everywhere across the world. In India, you see a common pattern whether it's in the south, or in Uttarakhand and Kashmir and even further north in Tibet - there are elements and iconography that's similar. Scholars believe serpent worship was the original form of worship, that it was pre-Dravidian, and that the Nagas themselves were pre Aryan and pre Dravidian people. We can only speculate. Perhaps what it tells us is that gods fade but whatever culture is preserved will remain. As with all kinds of belief and faith, there's no way to "prove" anything, and it's easy to disprove" -- K Hari Kumar, author, Naaga; Discovering the Extraordinary World of Serpent Worship talks to Manjula Narayan about ophiolatry in general, Naaga iconography in Indic religions, the figure of the naagin, stories of Ulupi and Iravan in myth and folk belief, the sacred serpent groves of Tulunad and Kerala, vyalimukhams across the country, and the challenges that emerge while documenting folklore.

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