Serpent deities are worshipped with milk, flowers and haldi for protection, lineage blessings and relief from Naga Dosha.

Nag Panchami is the worship of the nagas, kept on the Shukla Paksha Panchami of Shravan across most of India. Nagas are revered as guardians of the earth, of water sources and of family lineage, and as the ornaments of Shiva — Vasuki around his neck, Shesha as Vishnu's couch. Milk is offered at snake images, anthills and temple naga stones, and a serpent figure is drawn at the doorway in rice flour or haldi. The day is closely associated with relief from Kaal Sarp Dosha and Naga Dosha, and with protection from snakebite in an agricultural society where the monsoon drives snakes out of flooded burrows and into homes and fields. Regional reckoning differs: Gujarat keeps its own Nag Pancham on the Krishna Paksha Panchami of the Amanta Shravan, a fortnight after this day, and both are correct within their own convention.

A distinctive restriction: many families avoid food cooked on a flat tawa, and avoid cutting, chopping or frying, on the reasoning that these actions echo harm to the serpent form.