45 Continuing on the serpent theme

Before moving on, there is this bit from REV. Mateer’s book I need to quote:

QUOTE 1:

But the worship is practised chiefly by Sudras, Brahmans of an inferior order officiating as their priests. When Sudras find a snake, they catch it by a cord with a noose tied to the end of a long rod, place it carefully in an earthen pot, and bring it to the place of worship, or let it loose in the jungles.

Should they find others killing these precious reptiles, they earnestly beg for their protection, or lavish abuse on the persons who have committed the sacrilegious act. Offerings of fruits, cakes, flour, milk, or rice are made to the snake god, and once a year a lamp is kept burning before it.

Live snakes are kept in small temples dedicated to them, and fed and worshipped by the people. Sometimes wealthy Nayars spend much money in this worship, even in cases where members of their own families have been bitten and died.

END OF QUOTE

QUOTE 2:

In parts of the country where these dangerous reptiles are regarded with most veneration, it is possible that the danger to human life arising from the great abundance of snakes is slightly diminished by the comparative tameness of the creatures, though of course this would not lessen the risk from inadvertently treading on them in the dark, or turning over them in sleep, and thus forcing them to bite.

Serpents, happily, do not chase men, or seek to attack them, but rather try to escape; they only bite when trodden upon or driven to bay. No doubt they are more familiar, and even audacious, where the poor superstitious people fear to drive them away or annoy them, but only throw a piece of stick or clap their hands, crying Po, ada “Go, you fellow“; and it usually goes off. But it is quite an error to say that they never do injury, for a recent instance occurred of a Namburi Brahman dying at Ambalapuley of snakebite. END OF QUOTE

QUOTE 3:

Each one thinks that himself will escape, and cares little for others, so that men will often not take the trouble to remove a dangerous stone out of the road, much less to destroy a dangerous reptile. END OF QUOTE.

Speaking of the tameness of snakes mentioned by REV. Mateer, it is quite in sync with what the snakes expected from human beings. Human beings did not attack them unnecessarily. Especially non-poisonous ones.

I remember an occasion when I was around 4 years old (around 1966). I was staying in a family house at Tellicherry in north Malabar. There was a huge screaming noise from the yard in front of the house. When all of us looked, a big rat-snake was slowly gobbling up a big fat frog. It was not able to swallow it. The frog was giving out a huge screaming noise.

It is not a scene that can be visualised in current-day times. No rat-snake would dare to be in the open. People, especially the youngsters, would throw stones at it. As to what happened to the mentioned frog, when the screaming continued for some time, a decision was taken to help it escape. The snake was frightened off.

Serpent worship is connected to Nagaradhana. Actually there is a mention that Nagam (serpent) is a divine entity and not the same as a Cobra.

The basic theme of this chapter and the preceding two, was to ponder on the possibility of there being highly capable biological mechanisms, which work on a technology akin to that of software codes. There might be. For even the geographical guiding mechanism made use of by migratory birds in their flights across thousands of kilometres might also be from this realm.

Off course, the biologist may find this argument quite insipid. They might not know much about software codes.