MYTHS AND LEGENDS

The king’s aggressive reputation and its lethal defenses have inspired people to view its powers as godlike. In India and Southeast Asia, societies have long revered cobras and king cobras and placed them at the center of their most sacred rites.

Snake charmers do not really hypnotize cobras with their flute music. It’s often a sad con game in which an exhausted cobra is put on the defensive, yet conditioned (with pain) not to strike the flutist.