Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous acts, as well as other street performance staples, like juggling and sleight of hand. The practice was historically the profession of some tribesmen in India well into the 20th century but snake charming declined rapidly after the government banned the practice in 1972. Snake-charmer performances still happen in other Asian nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. The tradition is also practiced in North African countries of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Ancient Egypt was home to one form of snake charming, though the practic...
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2018 Feb 12 - Snake Charmers in Varanasi India.jpg
Snake Charmers in Varanasi, India
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"Snakecharmers," a chromolithograph by Alfred Brehm, c.1883
Source: ebay, Jan. 2007
Charmeur de serpents à Jaipur (2).JPG
Snake charming
Dunkerque musee BA morillo charmeuse serpents.JPG
Etienne Dinet - The snake charmer - Google Art Project.jpg
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Jean-Léon Gérôme - Le charmeur de serpents.jpg
Serpent Charmers (p.161, November 1865, XXII).jpg
Serpent Charmers (p.161, November 1865, XXII)
Snake Charmers in Kolkata, 1945, Norman Herfort slnsw.jpg
Snake Charmers in Kolkata, 1945, Norman Herfort, from vintage film negative, State Library of New So...
The Young Snake Charmer.jpg
The Young Snake Charmer