Indian Antiquary Vol 07

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 62

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1878.
stones,' of which a typical collection will be seen delineated at page 5, vol. IV. of the Ind. Ant., are most numerous. These stones, which mostly have an appearance of extreme antiquity, were thought by the late Mr. Boswell to be possibly a remnant of the earliest tribes who preceded the Skythian invaders, and the oldest representations of native art existing in the country (Ind. Ant. vol. I. pp. 150, 372). However this may be,--and probably investigation and evidence would fail to support the hypothesis, there is yet something strange and mysterious about these serpent-stones. They mostly have an appear. ance of extreme antiquity, blurred, worn, and mouldered by age, and though all castes regard them with some sort of awe or superstitious re- spect, none appear to claim them as specially pertaining to themselves. None will point at them, as it is believed the finger that so pointed would rot and drop from the hand. Women lay offerings of flowers before them and touch the sculptured heads with paint, believing they will be thereby blessed with children, but men very seldom appear to offer them any sort of adoration. They seem apart from existing systems, and, as it were, the fossils of an extinct generation. The enigmatical figare, in what Mr. Boswell called a Skythic cap and tunic, that so often accompanies the sculptured serpent, also appears to have nothing in common with Hindus.
It may be observed that in the neighbourhood of Hassan and Hâlabid, in Maisur, & frequent subject amongst the Jaina remains is the figure of a naked woman twined with a serpent encircling the right thigh. This is always accompanied by a smaller figure, clothed as for a cold climate, in a posture of adoration. I have more than once heard stories of snakes showing love for women, and in 1871 the following account appeared in the Western Star :
“A very extraordinary incident was lately reported to have occurred a few miles from Bépur, in Malabar. A native femalo of very attractive appearance, whilst sweeping the yard of her house, heard a hissing noise behind her. Turning to see, she found to her terror a large cobra advancing towards her. Before she could fly or call for help, the snake darted at her and coiled round one of her legs, rising swiftly higher and higher till it brought its
open hood in contact with her face, there moving it to and fro like a screen. In this pitiable and frightful position she had to remain for nearly two days, without being able to lie down or sleep. None but females could approach her to feel her with milk and plantains, when it is said, the cobra turned its head to one side, allowing her to nourish herself. But on any men coming near the cobra would hiss fearfully and tighten its hold round her body in such a manner as to make her feel breathless. Many conjurors came to relieve her, but none succeeded, till a Nair from the interior, by certain charms and spells, disentangled the poor woman from her venomous lover. The snake then crept back into the bushes whence it came, and the woman is now doing well. The above occur. rence is now a general talk amongst the natives."
Such an occurrence, with whatever foundation, real or fancied, may throw some light upon the Jaina sculptures, as well as upon the stories current all over the world of serpenthusbands and serpent-wives, or deities assuming serpent-shape-"& dragon's fiery form belied the god." Numberless kings and conquerors, besides Alexander, sprang from such ancestry, and the mythology and folk-lore on the subject are endless. No. XVIIL-Sepulchral Customs, existing
and prehistoric. Mr. James Fergusson, in the Introductory Observations to his work Rude Stone Monuments, insists forcibly on the unprogressive character of savage tribes, even after long contact with the white man. They are everywhere dying out, and in all the civilized parts of Europe have long been exterminated by the progressive Aryan races, who have usurped their places. The stone implements they used, and the megalithic monuments they raised, remained, and are to-day objects of deep interest to their civilized successors, as the only clues to conjecturing their habits and history. As Mr. Fergusson remarks, it is infinitely more philosophical to reason from the known backwards; and if tribes should be discovered living in primeval wildernesses, where they may well have existed from unknown ages unchanged in habits, aloof from higher races, and if moreover amongst them monuments shculd be in use much resembling the vestiges of what must have been similar tribes in Europe, all such monuments and ceremonies and usages