Naturalist.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 380, 20 August 1903, Page 2

Naturalist.

POISONOUS SNAKES. firfKj&UTSIDBRS who are unacquainted «/?& with the numeroris quaint and bewildering social and religisua institutions of the two ' British districts of South Canara and Malabar and the two native States of Travancore and Cochin—all four cf which lie on tbe south-west coast of India, and are beliered by the natives to have been miraculously reclaimed from the sea—can form no adequate idea of the extent to "which the cobra, at once the most poisonous and the least wanton or aggressive genus; of Indian snakes, is pampered, protected and propitiated in these four little provinces. It is not meant to assert that serpent worship and the propitiation of snake divinities is a peculiarity of /these provinces, for we have abundant historical evidence that such worship overspread nearly all Asia at a very remote period, and even crept into portions of southern Europe; bat it never elsewhere assumed such a tenacious hold on the people as it his done in the region mentioned, nor did it anywhere else break ,-out in such startling and fantastic shape's. Farther, in no other part has it been able to resist so successfully the invading forces of other schools of religious thought and belief. So far as South Canara and Malabar are concerned, the liberal and judicious influences of British rule have considerably lowered tbe status of the sacred cobra; and many a pious Hindu, whose forefathers bowed down and worshipped the reptile and expected all sorts of extraordinary favors from it in return, does not scruple now to make ..4 annas by polishing cff a snake with a stick and carrying the carcase to a public <ffioe for tbe usual reward offered by a generous Government. In Travancore and Cochin, however, where the revolutionary forces of a foreign system of civilisation have as yet made but little impression on" the popular mind, the old order of things goes on in much the same way as it did a thousand years ago, and Hindus, high and low, rich and poor } still venerate the cobra as a divinity, and consider it a heinous crime not only to injure the reptile, but even to neglect its slightest interests. To take the case of Travancore alone, from the singl3 fact that the dietrict contains no fewer than from IS ,000 to 20,000 shrines dedicated exclusively to the propitiatory worship of snakes, one is somewhat in a position to urdarstatd the intensity and popularity of this ancient J'orm of worship. These shrines are invariably in honor of the minor divinities of the country, some of them bsing of venerable age and more than local repute, and possessing extensive and valuable properties for their maintenaacs and for the cost of the numerous ceremonies which their keepers have to perform from time to time. They have an interesting mythological origin. A legend says that tbe first batch of colonists whom Parasu Rama marched into the country found it so arid that they fled back to their old homes. During their absence serpents from the lower world entered into possession; and when the' colonists were taken back they made a desperate effort to expel the invaders. The war was fierce*and long; but nothing prevailed against the invaders, and. at length a compromise was effected, the interlopers being allowed to remain, but to confine themselves strictly to the south-west cornor of every occupied garden or compound. It was also arranged that the demarcated plots should be untouched by knife or spade, so as to allow the vegetation to flourish and afford a congenial habitation for the snakes. The terms of this treaty are still adhered to, the vegetation in serpent groves being pruned only when it encroaches on the reßt of the garden. Thus came into existence the sarpa kavoos, or serpent shrines, of the ancient republic of Kerala. In these shrines the Hindus set down fantastic idols of-Her-p;nts on a stone basement, and tbe shrine is protected by a mud wall. It is essential to tbe welfare" cf the household that they should make periodical offerings of dough and milk and cooked rice to the serpentine habitues of the shrine, and place lights and chant hymns in order to: be assured of their favor.

One of the most important of the shrines dates back from time oat of reckoning:. It is attached to the iliom, or household, of a wealthy Nambudri Brahman. In the days before it existed a youth of the family married a maiden of a neighboring house. Though respectable, the parents of the maiden were in reduced circumstances, and her only marriage portion was a much-venerated stone idol of the household serpent divinity. The maiden carried this to her new borne, and devoutly worshipped it every day. In time she became a mother, and was delivered of a boy and a snake. The snake-child was sent down to an underground cellar and brought up there. Hereafter the family eßjoyed great and uninterrupted prosperity, thanks to the wonderful talisman and the serpentine offspring. Down to the present day, to the surname of the male members of the family are tacked on the name of the serpent god and that of the woman who was privileged to give birth to it. It is further related that when the entire country was devastated by a great conflagration this particular serpent shrine waß spared by Agni in response to the prayers of the progeny of the serpent to whom the lady had given birth. Once a year, in the underground cellar of the house, as well as in the grcve to the south-west of the compound dough and milk offerings ate placed. The door of the cellar is kept closed for three days, and lest the prying eyes of persons who, like Tennyson's low churl, are • compact of thankless earth' should stealthily try to peep into the subterranean chamber, the ladies of the household cover every crevice and aperture with their big palm leaf umbrellas. On the third day the door is opened, and the remnants of the offering are thrown into a tank as unfit for human consumption. It is noteworthy that the dough and milk have to be prepared and the offering made by the oldest female member of the family.—Chambers' Journal.