Shiva another God of the Hindu Trinity who is symbolised as the God of Salvation and as a great yogi and who is spoken of as the father of Ganesha is adorned with serpents all over his body as a token of victory by the yogi over the base qualities of his mind. Buddha was said to have been sheltered under the hood of a serpent for seven days during the period of his trance before he attained his Buddhahood. Similarly it is said that Guru Nanak was also sheltered by a serpent with hood spread when he was lying in a trance in an open field. It is said that soon after the birth of Bhagavan Satya Sai Baba a cobra was seen under his bed cloth. The cobra did not do any harm to the child. It is also said that the Sai Baba of Shirdi materialises himself as a serpent before his devotees. The ancient Druids who were the high priests of the Celts are said to be Dravidian Yogis. They are referred to as the wise men of the East. They called themselves as serpents or Nagas. Buddha is said to have contacts with them. Jesus Christ was obviously referring to these wisemen when he told the twelve apostles that they should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves before he sent them out to preach about the kingdom of God.

In ancient Egypt serpent worship was common. It seems to have been based on the idea of the serpent as the good genius of the house and of the temple. In India also this notion was prevalent and it is still lingering among certain orthodox communities who are averse to the killing of cobras. If however a cobra is killed, care is taken to give it a decent cremation. In Egypt, serpent was also regarded as a royal emblem. It was ancient belief that God visited his devotees in the form of serpents. It is said that Alexander, Julius Caesar and other great heroes of olden days had their mothers visited by a serpent before they were conceived.