The image of the snake in the culture of India: specificity and features

This article discusses the symbolism of the snake in the context mythology and culture of ancient India as a whole, reveals its specificity, and the main stable images. The snake is one of the most ancient, mysterious and polysemantic in the world culture. Certain variations of the snake cult we can meet virtually every ethnic group, as a snake is associated in the mythology and folklore with all elements and their manifestations. In the culture of India, we are faced with one of the most diverse symbolic complexes connected with the image of the snake. The author considers serpentlike symbolism in the Hindu and Buddhist mythology, folk culture, the epic, analyzing the study, in the context of the cosmogonic ideas, myths about the creation and the fertility ritual sacrifice.