It is recorded by Canter Visscher [94] that, "in the mountains and
remote jungles of this country (Malabar), there is a species of snake
of the shape and thickness of the stem of a tree, which can swallow men
and beasts entire. I have been told an amusing story about one of these
snakes. It is said that at Barcelore a chego (Chogan) had climbed up a
cocoanut tree to draw toddy or palm wine, and, as he was coming down,
both his legs were seized by a snake which had stretched itself up
alongside the tree with its mouth wide open, and was sucking him in
gradually as he descended. Now, the Indian, according to the custom
of his country, had stuck his teifermes (an instrument not unlike a
pruning knife), into his girdle with the curve turned outwards; and,
when he was more than half swallowed, the knife began to rip up the
body of the snake so as to make an opening, by which the lucky man was
most unexpectedly able to escape. Though the snakes in this country
are so noxious to the natives, yet the ancient veneration for them is
still maintained. No one dares to injure them or to drive them away
by violence, and so audacious do they become that they will sometimes
creep between people's legs when they are eating, and attack their
bowls of rice, in which case retreat is necessary until the monsters
have satiated themselves, and taken their departure."
Another snake story, worthy of the Baron Munchausen, is recorded in
Taylor's "Catalogue raisonne of Oriental Manuscripts." [95]
"The Coya (Koyi) people eat snakes. About forty years since a
Brahman saw a person cooking snakes for food, and, expressing great
astonishment, was told by the forester that these were mere worms;
that, if he wished to see a serpent, one should be shown him;
but that, as for themselves, secured by the potent charms taught
them by Ambikesvarer, they feared no serpents. As the Brahman
desired to see this large serpent, a child was sent with a bundle
of straw and a winnowing fan, who went, accompanied by the Brahman,
into the depths of the forest, and, putting the straw on the mouth
of a hole, commenced winnowing, when smoke of continually varying
colours arose, followed by bright flame, in the midst of which a
monstrous serpent having seven heads was seen. The Brahman was
speechless with terror at the sight, and, being conducted back
by the child, was dismissed with presents of fruits."
It is stated by Mr Gopal Panikkar [96] that, "people believe
in the existence inside the earth of a precious stone called
manikkakkallu. These stones are supposed to have been made out of
the gold, which has existed in many parts of the earth from time
immemorial. Certain serpents of divine nature have been blowing for
ages on these treasures of gold, some of which dwindle into a small
stone of resplendent beauty and brightness called manikkam. The moment
their work is finished, the serpents are transformed into winged
serpents, and fly up into the air with the stones in their mouths."
According to another version of this legend, [97] "people in Malabar
believe that snakes guard treasure. But silver they will have
none. Even in the case of gold, the snakes are said to visit hidden
treasure for twelve years occasionally, and, only when they find that
the treasure is not removed in the meantime, do they begin to guard
it. When once it has begun to watch, the snake is said to be very
zealous over it. It is said to hiss at it day and night. This constant
application is believed to diminish its proportions, and to make it
assume a smaller appearance. In time, in the place of the pointed tail,
the reptile is said to get wings, and the treasure, by the continuous
hissing, to assume the form of a precious stone. When this is done,
the snake is said to fly with its precious acquisition. So strong is
this belief that, when a comet appeared some ten years ago, people
firmly believed that it was the flight of the winged serpent with
the precious stone."
Natives, when seeking for treasure, arm themselves with a staff made
from one of the snake-wood trees, in the belief that the snakes which
guard the treasure will retire before it.
In Malabar, it is believed that snakes wed mortal girls, and fall in
love with women. When once they do so, they are said to be constantly
pursuing them, and never to leave them, except for an occasional
separation for food. The snake is said never to use its fangs against
its chosen woman. So strong is the belief, that women in Malabar would
think twice before attempting to go by themselves into a bush. [98]
There is a temple in Ganjam, the idol in which is said to be protected
from desecration at night by a cobra. When the doors are being shut,
the snake glides in, and coils itself round the lingam. Early in
the morning, when the priest opens the door, it glides away, without
attempting to harm any of the large number of spectators, who never
fail to assemble. [99]
The town of Nagercoil in Travancore derives its name from the temple
dedicated to the snake-god (naga kovil), where many stone images of
snakes are deposited. There is a belief that snake-bite is not fatal
within a mile of the temple.
The safety with which snake-charmers handle cobras is said to be due
to the removal of a stone, which supplied their teeth with venom,
from under the tongue or behind the hood. This stone is highly prized
as a snake poison antidote. It is said to be not unlike a tamarind
stone in size, shape, and appearance; and is known to be genuine if,
when it is immersed in water, bubbles continue to rise from it, or
if, when put into the mouth, it gives a leap, and fixes itself to
the palate. When it is applied to the punctures made by the snake's
poison fangs, it is said to stick fast and extract the poison, falling
off of itself as soon as it is saturated. After the stone drops off,
the poison which it has absorbed is removed by placing it in a vessel
of milk which becomes darkened in colour. A specimen was submitted to
Faraday, who expressed his belief that it was a piece of charred bone,
which had been filled with blood, and then charred again. [100]
There is, in Malabar, a class of people called mantravadis (dealers
in magical spells), who are believed to possess an hereditary power
of removing the effects of snake poison by repeating mantrams, and
performing certain rites. If a house is visited by snakes, they
can expel them by reciting such mantrams on three small pebbles,
and throwing them on to the roof. In cases of snake-bite, they recite
mantrams and wave a cock over the patient's body from the head towards
the feet. Sometimes a number of cocks have to be sacrificed before
the charm works. The patient is then taken to a tank (pond) or well,
and a number of pots of water are emptied over his head, while the
mantravadi utters mantrams. There are said to be certain revengeful
snakes, which, after they have bitten a person, coil themselves round
the branches of a tree, and render the efforts of the mantravadi
ineffective. In such a case, he, through the aid of mantrams, sends
ants and other insects to harass the snake, which comes down from
the tree, and sucks the poison from the punctures which it has made.
In the early part of the last century, a certain Tanjore pill had
a reputation as a specific against the bite of mad dogs, and of the
most poisonous snakes. [101]
The following note on a reputed cure for snake poisoning, used by
the Oddes (navvies), was communicated to me by Mr Gustav Haller.
"A young boy, who belonged to a gang of Oddes, was catching
rats, and put his hand into a bamboo bush, when a cobra bit him,
and clung to his finger when he was drawing his hand out of the
bush. I saw the dead snake, which was undoubtedly a cobra. I was
told that the boy was in a dying condition, when a man of the same
gang said that he would cure him. He applied a brown pill to the
wound, to which it stuck without being tied. The man dipped a root
into the water, and rubbed it on the lad's arm from the shoulder
downwards. The arm, which was benumbed, gradually became sensitive,
and at last the fingers could move, and the pill dropped off. The
moist root was rubbed on to the boy's tongue, and into the corner
of the eyes, before commencing operations. The man said that a used
pill is quite efficacious, but should be well washed to get rid
of the poison. In the manufacture of the pills, five leaves of a
creeper are dried, and ground to powder. The pill must be inserted
for nine days between the bark and cambium of a margosa tree
(Melia Azadirachta) during the new moon, when the sap ascends."
The creeper referred to is Tinospora cordifolia (gul bel), and the
roots are apparently those of the same climbing shrub. There is a
widespread belief that gul bel growing on a margosa tree is more
efficacious as a medicine than that which is found on other kinds
of trees.
In cases of snake-bite, the Dommara snake-charmers place over the seat
of the bite a black stone, which is said to be composed of various
drugs mixed together and burnt. It is said to drop off, as soon as
it has absorbed all the poison. It is then put into milk or water to
extract the poison, and the fluid is thrown away as being dangerous
to life if swallowed. The Mandulas (wandering medicine men) use as
an antidote against snake-bite a peculiar wood, of which a piece is
torn off, and eaten by the person bitten. [102] Among the Viramushtis
(professional mendicants), there is a subdivision called Naga Mallika
(Rhinacanthus communis), the roots of which are believed to cure
snake-bite. The jungle Paliyans of the Palni hills are said [103]
to carry with them certain leaves, called naru valli ver, which they
believe to be a very efficient antidote to snake-bite. As soon as one
of them is bitten, he chews the leaves, and also applies them to the
punctures. The Kudumi medicine men of Travancore claim to be able to
cure snake-bite by the application of certain leaves ground into a
paste, and by exercising their magical powers. The Telugu Tottiyans
are noted for their power of curing snake-bites by means of mystical
incantations, and the original inventor of this mode of treatment
has been deified under the name of Pambalamman.
The jungle Yanadis are fearless in catching cobras, which they draw
out of their holes without any fear of their fangs. They claim to
be under the protection of a charm, while so doing. A correspondent
writes that a cobra was in his grounds, and his servant called in a
Yanadi to dislodge it. The man caught it alive, and, before killing
it, carefully removed the poison-sac with a knife, and swallowed it
as a protection against snake-bite.
The Nayadis of Malabar, when engaged in catching rats in their holes,
wear round the wrist a snake-shaped metal ring, to render them safe
against snakes which may be concealed in the hole.
A treatment for cobra-bite is to take a chicken, and make a deep
incision into the beak at the basal end. The cut surface is applied
to the puncture made by the snake's fangs, which are opened up with a
knife. After a time the chicken dies, and, if the patient has not come
round, more chicken must be applied until he is out of danger. The
theory is that the poison is attracted by the blood of the chicken,
and enters it. The following treatment for cobra bite is said [104]
to be in vogue in some places:--
"As soon as a person has been bitten, a snake-charmer is sent for,
who allures the same or another cobra whose fangs have not been
drawn to the vicinity of the victim, and causes it to bite him
at as nearly as possible the same place as before. Should this
be fulfilled, the bitten man will as surely recover as the snake
will die. It is believed that, if a person should come across two
cobras together, they will give him no quarter. To avoid being
pursued by them, he takes to his heels, after throwing behind
some garment, on which the snakes expend their wrath. When they
have completed the work of destruction, the pieces to which the
cloth has been reduced, are gathered together, and preserved as
a panacea for future ills."
A fisherman, who is in doubt as to whether a water-snake which has
bitten him is poisonous or not, sometimes has resort to a simple
remedy. He dips his hands into the mud, and eats several handfuls
thereof. [105]
The fragrant inflorescence of Pandanus fascicularis is believed to
harbour a tiny snake, which is more deadly than the cobra. Incautious
smelling of the flowers may, it is said, lead to death.
The earth-snake (Typhlops braminus) is known as the ear-snake, because
it is supposed to enter the ear of a sleeper, and cause certain death.
The harmless tree-snake (Dendrophis pictus) is more dreaded than the
cobra. It is believed that, after biting a human being, it ascends
the nearest palmyra palm, where it waits until it sees the smoke
ascending from the funeral pyre of the victim. The only chance of
saving the life of a person who has been bitten is to have a mock
funeral, whereat a straw effigy is burnt. Seeing the smoke, the
deluded snake comes down from the tree, and the bitten person recovers.
The green tree-snake (Dryophis mycterizans) is said to have a habit
of striking at the eyes of people, to prevent which a rag is tied
round the head of the snake, when it is caught. Another, and more
curious belief is that a magical oil can be prepared from its dead
body. A tender cocoanut is opened at one end, and the body of the
snake is put into the cocoanut, which, after being closed, is buried
in a miry place, and allowed to remain there until the body decays,
and the water in the cocoanut becomes saturated with the products of
decomposition. When this has taken place, the water is taken out, and
used as oil for a lamp. When a person carries such a lamp lighted, his
body will appear to be covered all over by running green tree-snakes,
to the great dismay of all beholders. [106]
For the following note on beliefs concerning the green tree-snake
(Dryophis), I am indebted to Dr N. Annandale. A recipe for making a
good curry, used by women who are bad cooks, is to take a tree-snake,
and draw it through the hands before beginning to make the curry. To
cure a headache, kill a tree-snake, and ram cotton seed and castor-oil
down its throat, until the whole body is full. Then bury it, and allow
the seeds to grow. Take the seeds of the plants that spring up, and
separate the cotton from the castor seeds. Ram them down the throat
of a second snake. Repeat the process on a third snake, and make a
wick from the cotton of the plant that grows out of its body, and
oil from the castor plants. If you light the wick in a lamp filled
with the oil, and take it outside at night, you will see the whole
place alive with green tree-snakes. Another way of performing the
same experiment is to bore a hole in a ripe cocoanut, put in a live
tree-snake, and stop the hole up. Then place the cocoanut beneath a
cow in a cowshed for forty days, so that it is exposed to the action
of the cow's urine. A lamp fed with oil made from the cocoanut will
enable you to see innumerable tree-snakes at night.
The bite of the sand-snake (Eryx Johnii) is believed to cause leprosy
and twisting of the hands and feet. An earth-snake, which lives at
Kodaikanal on the Palni hills, is credited with giving leprosy to
any one whose skin it licks. In the treatment of leprosy, a Russell's
viper (Vipera russellii) is stuffed with rice, and put in an earthen
pot, the mouth of which is sealed with clay. The pot is buried for
forty days, and then exhumed. Chickens are fed with the rice, and the
patient is subsequently fed on the chickens. The fat of the rat-snake
(Zamenis mucosus) is used as an external application in the treatment
of leprosy. An old woman, during an epidemic of cholera at Bezwada,
used to inject the patients hypodermically with an aqueous solution
of cobra venom.
Mischievous children, and others, when they see two persons
quarrelling, rub the nails of the fingers of one hand against those
of the other, and repeat the words "Mungoose and snake, bite, bite,"
in the hope that thereby the quarrel will be intensified, and grow
more exciting from the spectator's point of view.
When a friend was engaged in experiments on snake venom, some Dommaras
(jugglers) asked for permission to unbury the corpses of the snakes
and mungooses for the purpose of food.
If a snake becomes entangled in the net of a Bestha fisherman in
Mysore when it is first used, the net is rejected, and burnt or
otherwise disposed of.
There is a widespread belief among children in Malabar, that a lizard
(Calotes versicolor) sucks the blood of those whom it looks at. As
soon, therefore, as they catch sight of this creature, they apply
saliva to the navel, from which it is believed that the blood is
extracted.
A legend is recorded by Dr Annandale, [107] in accordance with which
every good Muhammadan should kill the blood-sucker (lizard), Calotes
gigas, at sight, because, when some fugitive Muhammadans were hiding
from their enemies in a well, one of these animals came and nodded
its head in their direction till their enemies saw them.
A similar legend about another lizard is described as existing in
Egypt. Dr Annandale further records that the Hindus and Muhammadans
of Ramnad in the Ramnad district regard the chamaeleon (Chamaeleon
calcaratus) as being possessed by an evil spirit, and will not touch
it, lest the spirit should enter their own bodies. I have been told
that the bite of a chamaeleon is more deadly than that of a cobra.
There is a popular belief that the bite of the Brahmini lizard (Mabuia
carinata), called aranai in Tamil, is poisonous, and there is a saying
that death is instantaneous if aranai bites. The same belief exists
in Ceylon, and Mr Arthur Willey informs me that deaths attributed to
the bite of this animal are recorded almost annually in the official
vital statistics. I have never heard of a case of poisoning by the
animal in question. There is a legend that, "when the cobra and the
arana were created, poison was supplied to them, to be sucked from
a leaf. The arana sucked it wholesale, leaving only the leaf smeared
over with poison for the cobra to lap poison from; thereby implying
that the cobra is far less venomous than the arana. Thus people
greatly exaggerate the venomous character of the arana." [108]
It has already been noted (p. 73) that, when Savara children are
emaciated from illness, offerings are made to monkeys. Blood-suckers
are also said to be propitiated, because they have filamentous
bodies. A blood-sucker is captured, small toy arrows are tied round
its body, and a piece of cloth is tied round its head. Some drops of
liquor are then poured into its mouth, and it is set at liberty.
The Maratha Rajas of Sandur belong to a family called Ghorpade,
which name is said to have been earned by one of them scaling a
precipitous fort by clinging to an "iguana" (Varanus), which was
crawling up it. The flesh of the "iguana" is supposed to be possessed
of extraordinary invigorating powers, and a meal off this animal is
certain to restore the powers of youth. Its bite is considered very
dangerous, and it is said that, when it has once closed its teeth on
human flesh, it will not reopen them, and the only remedy is to cut
out the piece it has bitten. [109] This animal and the crocodile are
believed to proceed from the eggs laid by one animal. They are laid
and hatched near water, and, of the animals which come out of them,
some find their way into the water, while others remain on land. The
former become crocodiles, and the latter "iguanas." The flesh of the
crocodile is administered as a cure for whooping-cough.
It is popularly believed that, if a toad falls on a pregnant woman, the
child that is to be born will die soon after birth. The only remedy is
to capture the offending toad, and fry it in some medicinal oil, which
must be administered to the child in order to save it from death. [110]