snake icon

Sankes and indian iconography. Multi headed snake as a niche (Venomous niche) is an important factor in south east asian iconography especially Indian. 
Left to right 
Vishnu with five headed snake
Parshwanath with seven headed snake
Buddha (china) with five headed snake
Shiva with seven headed snake
Aadishesha with five headed snake
Nagaraja with five headed snake
Buddha with five headed sanke
Lakshmi narasimha with nine headed snake