Devotees over a lakh who thronged Ranchi's Pahari Mandir to offer Shivratri prayers on Friday were greeted by a dozen snake charmers.

Shiva wears a deadly snake - the Vasuki Naga - as a necklace, signifying he is independent of time and death.

Snake charmers dotted the entire stretch from the main entrance to the temple. Arriving around 4am, the snake-charmers were all settled with their baskets by the time the first lot of morning devotes reached the temple perched at a height of 2,140ft above sea level atop Ranchi Hill.

For the devout, all the snakes in the baskets, no matter which variety, were all the same - the naag baba adorning the Shiva's blue neck.

" Naag baba ka darshan kar lein," snake charmers were heard inviting devotees.

Devotees, however, gave mixed responses. While some avoided them out of fear, others held the reptiles and yet some others paid their respects and offered dakshina (donation) to the snakes, who are symbolically regarded as Sipahi Baba at Ranchi Hill. There is also a Sipahi Baba temple close to that of Lord Shiva's on the hill.

A snake charmer from Ratu said had it not been for Lord Shiva and his festivals, it would have been difficult for them to survive.

"People respect snakes due to the association with Shiv ji. During Shivratri, Nag Panchami and Shravani Mela, people like to see snakes for good luck and offer us money," the snake charmer said.

Rajendra Singh from Lake Road, said he had naag baba's darshan and offered donation to the snake charmer.

Pahari Mandir Vikas Samiti had made proper arrangements for smooth festivities on Shivratri. Entry and exit had been made one way. This apart, entire temple campus was kept under surveillance of 22 CCTV cameras with a control room at its entrance.

Devotees were happy over the hassle-free puja arrangements. "It took only one-and-a-half hour for me to offer milk and water to Lord Shiva at the hill top. All thanks to arghya system," Ritesh Kumar Jha of Dhurwa said, referring to the system that enabled pilgrims to do jalabhishek (offering water) from a distance without actually touching the shivlinga in the sanctum sanctorum with the help of a pipe-like brass structure.

Pahari Mandir samiti spokesperson Mukesh Kumar said around 100 policemen and RSS volunteers had been deputed on the temple premises.

Sukhdeonagar thana OC Nawal Kishore Singh said four women constables had also been deputed.