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  • Representing Belief in Indian and Aboriginal Cultures

    CONCLUSION

    When India can be called a land of snakes, Australia can be called as the home of the most venomous snakes. They both play the major roles not only as home for snakes but also as the followers of their ancestral footsteps in understanding the stories about the mythical creatures and their manifestations. Generally the purpose of myths is to drive home some moral to the society. These myths have become a part of the basic beliefs that guide human beings to take a better way in leading their lives. 

    Other than these beliefs, there are certain superstitious beliefs that gradually destroy the inborn beliefs of the ancestors. Such superstitions have to be avoided without harming the basic beliefs and must accept the basic facts about snakes to protect them. The ancestors of both India and Australia had lived a life close to nature. The Australian Aboriginal people had been close to nature showing the power of their land and their respect for animals, treating them as their own kith and kin. But soon after colonisation, their power had been destroyed completely. Their great powers – land and nature had been taken away from them. Yet their beliefs prevail. 

    Indians basically being traditional, have the same kind of beliefs which have shaped their lives to follow good ways and do good deeds. They had a practice of  worshipping  snakes as deities who serve people as both life givers and life takers. Thus, some are forced to allow the unbelievable myths about snakes. Most of the people consider these creatures to be sacred for the fear of loss of snakes. They are destroyed for the use of their skins and some countries eat them for their taste. Theodore Baskaran  points out that many specialists and scientists fear that the number of snakes is reduced day by day either by killing it for food or for its skin and mainly out of fear. For this reason it has to be accepted that the belief of worshipping them as deities will make them honourable and be spared from death.

    Though these two countries express certain differences, Indians being mythological and the Australians being legendary, yet they both show a positive approach regarding snakes. They encourage people to protct nature and other cosurviving beings.  This continuity of killing this species would make them disappear like that of Dinasarous. The number of snakes killed for human purpose has to be controlled. At the same time awareness programmes can be organised for the people to understand the facts about snakes to come out of their superstitions. TO GET RID OF THESE absurd or unethical myths WOULD RESULT IN SAFEEGUARDING ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL, VARIOUS COLURED SPECIES FROM THEIR HORRIBLE DEATH.

    Thus, the writers convey the above mentioned ideas and views through their writings. These views have to be taken into account  to educate people about the importance of  the ‘farmer’s friend’ that are destroyed due to certain fallacies. Jonathan W. Stanley in his “Snakes: Objects of Religion, Fear and Myth”, has pointed out that overcoming the fear of snakes will develop a positive attitude towards the environment and a concern for the inhabitants by educating the people about these reptiles.

    The same idea has been put forth to the researchers by Brian Bush who emphasises on educating the people and to develop the image of snakes among them. Thus, the research ‘Representing Belief in Indian and Aboriginal Cultures’ has explored the various manifestations of snakes that help in leading a moralistic and an ethcal life. These people from two different cultures have been created by the ancestors for several reasons. These stories have been developed into certain disbeliefs that lead to further representation of snakes.

    As per certain researchers’ suggestions, educating people alone will be a partial success in improving the attitude towards snakes. But realisation of an individual about his culture and his ancestors’ beliefs will pave way for a person to understand the disbeliefs and act accordingly. Hence, it depends on an individual either to accept the prevailing myths or to argue against them. Thus, this thesis will be helpful to the readers to have a mythological  view on snakes of two fifferent cultures and will lead to a further reading.

  • Snake Myths in Literary Context

    The common myths that prevail among the two countries along with several other myths have been used by the recent writers in their works. Though they are not addicted to these myths, as writers they believe that they can inculcate certain aspects into the minds of people in order to understand the difference between the facts and the commonly prevailing fallacies, especially about snakes . They make complete use of them as they wish in their works to bring out some changes that are fruitful.

    Some writers even share their experiences in their stories that need much more understanding to wipe out certain misconceptions about snakes. Indian writers like Girish Karnad, R.K.Narayan and Khushwanth Singh have tried their best to do it. Several Australian writers like Ida West and Daele Marie also have an equal part to come out of the fallacies from the people’s minds.

    Girish Karnad in his play Nagamandala (1977) has pointed out some of the fallacies that are still believed by people. He has exploited these myths to present his social and psychological themes. He has used the symbols of guardianship, vengeance, sexuality, medicinal qualities, and a God to worship. Rani, the heroine of the play once pours a magical root mixed curry into the anthill which is licked by a king cobra.

    The myth of snake drinking milk is well used for the development of the plot. Further, the king cobra is given a human form named Naga who comes in the form of Rani’s husband, Appanna. The King Cobra or Naga stands for sexuality. He visits Rani at nights in the absence of Appanna and asks her to be fresh when he comes, “Quite Right! From tomorrow I want you to be fresh and bright when I come home at night. I shall come home from every night from now on. May I?” (40).

    Though snakes are represented as the symbol of sexuality, it is used in a positive sense by the author. Rani tells Naga that he is the one who made her understand everything about the relationship between a husband and a wife. She tells him that she has been a silly girl all the time and now has been turned into a woman which is because of him: “I was a stupid, ignorant girl when you brought me here. But now I am a woman, a wife and I am going to be a mother…I am not a parrot. Why don’t you take it on trust that I have a mind and explain this charade to me? Why do you play these games? Why do you change like a chameleon from day to night? Even if I understood little, a tiny-bit I could bear it.” (51)

    People believe that Lord Shiva has a snake on his neck to denote that he has overcome all kinds of desires and feelings which the snake symbolises. This desire also includes the sensual pleasures. A snake as a symbol of sexuality commonly prevails all over the world, especially India. The use of this symbol in a positive sense suggests that this representation not only leads to physical pleasures but also in realising the reality of life. This has been the reason for Naga, to be used positively.

    Rani once tells Naga that even the mention of the name of a snake during night will make it come into the house. She also tells him what her father used to tell about the power of a Cobra to catch its prey. She says: “The Cobra simply hooks the bird’s eyes with its own sight, if a bird looks at a cobra. The bird stares- and – stares unable to move its eyes. It doesn’t feel any fear either. It stands fascinated, watching the changing colours of the eyes of the cobra. It just stares, wings half-opened as though it was sculpted in the sunlight. (40)

    This refers to Rani herself. After the arrival of Naga in her life, she seems to be attracted and caught by the sight of Naga. It is Rani who is fascinated and looks for the love and passion in the eyes of Naga, like the bird which is caught in the hold of a cobra. It suggests that the King cobra fulfills the Psychological needs of Rani who is a human being. Generally, there is a belief that snakes mesmerise birds. But a snake does not mesmerise its prey, rather the bird freezes in fear and does not move. This may appear to a viewer that the snake has hooked the bird’s eyes with its own sight (40) as Rani says. Such a fearful creature has been used as a satiating agent of Rani’s psychological desires.

    Rani becomes conceived by the non-human agent, Naga. When her real husband Appanna comes to know of it, he drags her into the streets. Naga on seeing this tries to save her from being hurt and so he prevents Appanna from beating Rani by moving towards Rani, where he serves as a guardian of Rani. He asks her to choose the snake ordeal to prove her chastity in front of her husband and others.

    Since Appanna has complained to the elders of the village about his wife, she is summoned to prove her innocence. Naga must save her and his unborn baby as well. As per his advice, Rani gathers all her courage and takes the King Cobra in her hand. “since coming to this village, I have held by this hand, only two…. My Husband and this cobra (58)”. Naga blesses Rani with a child and this concept has been taken from the myth of snakes representing fertility. He not only gives her a child but also acts as a saviour of her life from the cruel hands of her husband.

    Immediately the snake moves to her neck and garlands her. From that time, Rani is seen as a Goddess by the villagers. The snake here is considered sacred by the people and it makes the woman a Goddess by garlanding her as it is garlanding Lord Shiva. The symbol of a snake being worshipped as a God is used completely by the author. Naga blesses Rani with a happy life for which she has been longing.

    After a few months, Naga the non-human agent visits Rani’s house and stares at her sleeping next to her son and Appanna. He feels jealous and possessive to have Rani for himself. He becomes vengeful and wants to kill her. But sooner changes his mind and decides to kill himself on the long dark hair of Rani which he calls his dark black princess. There is a belief among people that snakes take revenge over its offender. Though some specialists have denied such a myth, it still prevails among most of the people. Such a myth has been utilised by the author in his work.

    This Naga, basically a King Cobra plays several other roles in the life of Rani.  He transforms her from a silly village girl into a woman and a mother. Philosophically and mythologically, he has caused Rani’s integration at different levels, the physical, emotional, spiritual and the intellectual. Further, he is the remedy for all the problems of Rani, who has even saved her from the snake-ordeal. He heals her ailments from her heart through his love and affection which symbolises his representation of medicinal qualities.

    The Naga King Vasuki churned the elixir; likewise, this King Cobra churns the life of Rani to get away with her sorrows and to bring elixir into her life. Shesha holds the world and this Cobra holds the life of Rani with care and the Naga deities who represent fertility are used in the text in the same context by the author. All these mythical creations denote the positive side of life. In this way, the cobra created by the author is used for a good purpose by saving the life of an innocent woman. The King Cobra teaches her life and everything that surrounds it, blesses her with fertility, and protects her from harm as a guardian. It even takes her to the extent of being worshipped. He also mentions the tension that prevails between the beliefs and a person’s thoughts that lead to such kind of disbelief.

    Thus, many of the common myths are used by the author to add flavour to the story. Karnad’s use of both, the positive and negative symbols do not create an aversion for snakes. Instead, a positive approach is developed, and he allows looking at snakes as a co-existing creation of God, that is harmless until they are disturbed.

    In Khushwant Singh’s “The Mark of Vishnu” (1950), the character named Gunga Ram, a servant believes that Kala Nag, a six feet cobra living in a hole to be God. He believes that Kala Nag is sacred. He is a devotee of Lord Vishnu and smears his head with a V- mark. He keeps milk in a saucer every night near the hole where Kala Nag lives. He further believes that the milk is taken by the snake. The myth of snake drinking milk is used here which suggests that the myth is still in use. The point which Gunga Ram wanted to prove was not clear. He just proved it by leaving the saucer full of milk by the snake hole every night and finding it gone in the morning. (1)

    The boys of the house tease him for his superstition and when they get a chance, they attack the cobra and take it to the science teacher to keep it in the lab. The furious snake not yet killed, jumps out of the tin when it is opened by the teacher to escape from everyone. At that time Gunga Ram enters the scene to repent for what has been done. The Cobra in anger strikes his head to get rid of the danger and leaves the place.

    As soon as he saw Kala Nag come up he went down on his knees. He poured the milk into the saucer and placed near the threshold. With hands folded in prayer he bowed his head to the ground craving forgiveness. In desperate fury, the Cobra hissed and spat and bit Gunga Ram all over the head, then with great effort dragged himself into a gutter and wriggled out of view. (3)

    Jonathan W. Stanley in his “Snakes: Objects of Religion, Far and Myth” has pointed out that Indians believe cobras to be the incarnations of Gods and hence Gunga Ram opposes to kill Kala Nag whom he considers and worships to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The science teacher wipes the drop of blood underneath the V-mark where the fangs of Kala Nag are dug. Now dead Gunga Ram, a devoted servant of Lord Vishnu, according to him, has been blessed. The author tries to bring the consequences of disbelief. The writers use myths in their works and through that they create an impact on people regarding these beliefs, that tie them strong enough with fear of anything that is dangerous.

    Australian writers also come out with the same views. Further, they try to make it general rather than to their own country. In the introduction to The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, Kerryn Goldsworthy says, that is becoming clearer in Australian writing – as in so many other things-as the century ends is a shift in focus: a shift away from the idea of the national, and towards the dynamic between the local and the global (XXVII)”. Hence, the writers write for the whole world. They write about their country not only for their whole nation but for the others to know more about their land and people. Some of them write their own experiences like Daele Healy and Ida West. They have narrated their encounters with snakes that are exciting.

    Daele Marie is basically from an army family. “The Snake and the Cowgirl” (2007) is a story about the writer’s experience. On a summer day, she took a bath and has come out of the bathroom to step on a snake. “I walk out of the bathroom and straight into what I now know is the unmistakable s-shaped slither of six-foot snake.” She got scared, screamed and hides herself in the kitchen. Being in a confused state whom to seek help, she decides to call the hotel publican, an mental health professional in her life.

    The man asks her the colour of it and feels relieved when her descriptions match a blacksnake which is harmless. He further says it keeps the brown snake away. He sends Jill, a local cowgirl for Daele’s rescue. Jill calls three local little girls behind her to look at it.  She holds it and says, “so, that’s a black snake”, Jill instructs them.” You are not meant to kill them. He’s just escaping the heat.”

    She comes in through the window, since the doors are closed and goes away taking the snake with her. The writer tries to persuade not to harm the creepers when people are not harmed. And further she informs everyone to call for the snake handlers and the experts to handle them without any harm done to them and to the persons in fright. Though she fears it she does not harm it anyway. Rather tries to help it to go out of her house with the help of a snake handler.

    Ida West in her “Snakes” (2000) talks about her childhood experiences with variety of snakes. When they were children, they used to watch the fights between snakes and blue-tongued goannas. Most of the time, the snakes would bite them, and these goannas would try to save themselves but fail at times. The way in which they would go to school was full of snakes. Once the writer and her brother saw a dozen of baby snakes. Most of the time, they had seen snakes crawling on roads. In the same way, they had to encounter a female snake. They had thrown a big stone on it cruelly. The baby snakes came out of its stomach. “Another time a female snake took us. We found a big stone and hit her with it. It was just as well we did, but it was a cruel way to do it. We jabbed her stomach and all the baby snakes came out- some of the stuff got on my arm straight away. Dad told us we were never to be cruel. We, like all the children, had to carry a stick.” (661)

    This part reminds the reader of the story of Taipan, where the Rainbow Serpent is killed by Wala, the blue-tongued lizard. Goanna killing the Rainbow Serpent contrasts with the part which the author ha narrated. Because in the dream stories, Taipan the Rainbow Serpent, has offended the law by seizing another person’s wife. Thus, the law breaker is killed by the follower of laws. But snakes and goannas fight with each other and either of them will achieve victory.

    Flinders Island is a place with lots of snakes and the writer stayed at Killiecrankie where numerous snakes were seen. The copperhead snakes would hide themselves would hide themselves in the toilet at the backyard and they had to put sulphur to make snakes come out of the pit. The writer’s father dug pits for well and whenever they had dug pits and filled with water, there would be a red bellied snake seen on the very next day.

    They also had to manage tiger snakes, grass snakes and whip snakes. Once, the writer had watched Harry Butler talking about goannas that are confused to be death adders. But she had once seen a death adder with a thick skin and a rat like tail which resembled a goanna. Her father had objected it, but she was sure of what she witnessed. The people there worked on Chappell Island which is a place where more dangerous snakes are found.”( The ‘ Barking Brilla ‘ is the name for the snake–infested saltbush (barilla) on chappell Island- the snakes making a warning noise when you get to close. (662).”

    She says that this place is populated with more snakes than in Flinders Island. The author shares the experiences to the people all over to handle snakes without attacking them. Only if they are hurt, they try to attack the intruders. The children are advised to take a long stick with them to get away from the fearful but interesting creatures. The writers make people understand the basic truth that these wildlife creatures are seen even in gardens and houses. Yet, they do not have an intention in striking anyone other than their preys. They only bite the persons if they find them to be their offenders. These stories make the point clear that even

    Now the “dreamtime” belief of treating animals equal to man is followed despite threat. Thus, the recent writers make it a constant point that these creatures are not created to attack or destroy humankind. Rather it is human beings who offend them out of fear and horror. They further denote that these snakes are used as symbols that represent many qualities. Such stories are created only for the welfare of the people to live a virtuous life and not to glorify or degrade them. They talk about all the possibilities of getting hold of certain disbelief that the researchers prove to be wrong to make everyone understand the real worth of the earlier created stories.

  • Myth and Created Universe

    MYTH  AND  CREATED  UNIVERSE deals with the convergences and divergences that are seen both in India and Australia. It also focuses on the common myths that prevail among people about snakes in both the cultures.

    When compared, there are both similarities and differences in Australian and Indian stories, myths and symbols that are based on snakes. Strangely, Indians consider snakes to be the representations of both birth and death, creation and destruction, reconciling the contradictions within themselves. People started worshipping snakes as deities out of fear or death. They believed that since a snake is fearful, it could be pleased by treating it with respect. O.C.Handa believes that the ancient tribal people were scared of their lives. Since they were bitten by venomous snakes in their lands where the people survived, they all became the victims of the dangerous bites.

    This led them to take immediate precautions like killing the people who dug the land. They thought that whoever dug the land offended the Lord and so had to be sacrificed to God. Handa says: That gave rise to an impulsive suggestion that whenever the land was dug, the ‘lord of the underworld’ was offended , and in retribution, killed the digger. He, therefore, thought of keeping him in good humour by occasionally offering human sacrifice so that he could continue with his agrarian course fearlessly. (81)

    This is how the sacrificial rituals to God started to prevent people from further harm. Such was their belief to save their lives. Thus they started worshipping snakes as deities out of fear, of fierce death and considered  them to represent certain symbols. Further, its capacity to change or shed  its skin, which implies immortality and its gaze that can stiffen or mesmerize an animal or a bird or even a person with fear, have made people worship it as a deity. The ability to kill people alone made Indians , to place it in a high position as a deity, which is more than the human world.

    But Australian Aboriginals preffered to treat all creatures of God equally. They had a great respect for their land where they lived. And hence, they started considering every creation of God to be equal in its own way. Since they were nomads rhey had to  survive in all kinds of lands and hence wanted to safeguard themselves. This could possibly have made them treat snakes as their totem ancestor of “The Dreamtime”.

    When comparing the similarities, snakes symbolise fertility both in India and Australia. It is believed in India that taking part in special poojas done for snakes either in front of ant-hills ora temple would result in women attaining fertility. Australian Aborigines believe that the Rainbow Serpent is a symbol of fertility. And hence it is also considered as the protector of women. Since it saves the womenfolk from being  harmed by men through  the warerhole in which it lives. This waterhole resembles a womb, and hence it is considered as a guardian of women. So, women were free to choose their own life partners. The Rainbow Serpent played the role of a father and symbolised fertility.

    Indian Nagas are believed to be nature spirits, who protect springs, wells and rivers. They are the cause of rain, being associated with water that is found as lakes, rivers, seas and so on, by having control over it. Indian Encyclopedia points out that the serpents are in various manifestations in which significance of water is the important one. It says, “The belief that serpents live in guard, and control water-lakes, springs and rivers, is a belief common to many races ( 6520 ).” It has to be noted that Vritra, the evil serpent was killed for not providing water to the world. In the same way, the Australian Rainbow Serpent is also believed to be the guardian of water in the form of ponds, rivers and lakes.

    If he finds anyone misusing water or the creatures that are in water, he takes no time in destroying them. Most of the stories retold by A.W.Reed emphasises the point that the Rainbow Serpents live in waterholes. In one of the stories he says, “…….in a river that flowed into the Gulf of Carpentria, live the Rainbow Snake and his wife. Rainbow snake is the guardian of the river (380 )”. Jonathan says, “Snakes are also associated with the wind and rain in many religions.  In Hinduism  Vritra who is represented by a snake, hides away the clouds, but is killed by Indra the giver of rain (66 )”. Both Nagas and the Rainbow Serpent are seen creating floods and storms to destroy the evil natured people. 

    Further, Indian snakes play the role of a guardian in protecting treasures and also as the guardian of people who follow their roles. The Australian Rainbow Serpent plays a similar role in protecting the people from harm. He guards both men and women and even the other living beings found in the land. Both the Indian snakes and the Rainbow Serpent use their powers to save people from hazards and at the same time destroy the lawbreakers. 

    The Rainbow Serpent is usually seen as a totemic ancestor who was responsible for the creations in the universe. He ordered the first created beings to follow certain rules for a better life. As an ancestor, he protects every creation when there is a necessity. Likewise, Indian Nagas considered as ancestors, safeguarded their family members from harm. Johnathen .W.Stanley in his paper “Snakes: Objects of Religion, Fear and Myth” (2008) points out, “Snakes are often viewed as reincarnated ancestors or the origin of humankind. This is particularly true among the people of Africa as well India where Hindus may refuse to kill snakes since they may be recarnations (65)”. Handa says, “there has been a belief among the peasantry that if a person encounters a snake in his house, it is considered that an ancestor has made himself manifest in the guise of a snake(288)”. 

    Indian Encyclopedia explains how two men experienced a snake ancestor visiting his house. The hosters who had returned back from somewhere saw the two guests trying to beat it. And she told them that it was her father-in-law. It had saved the family from several troubles. She said that it has once bitten the neighbour who fought with the snake’s son. She said : “Let him go, let him go: he is our Poorwuj Dec; he used to get into my mother –in- head , and set her a trembling, and then he would mention the name of my father-in-law, who died sometime ago… he also said that his soul had been wrapped up in his property, on which account he had become a snake, and was going to live in the house.” (6514)

    The spirit of an ancestor takes a form of a snake to safeguard his own family members from harms. In that way, each house is guarded by an ancestor serpent. David Mowaljari says in The Oxford companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2000) that there was a Rainbow Serpent named Wunggur who helped the Banman people to compost the best music. He is the source of all our lives and stores its eggs in the belly of the composer which would “breed and grow inside the composer’s body…..sometimes a male and  female Wurngurr will mate inside the body of the Banman and breed inside in order to give him power (347 )”.Wurnggar is a blind snake but when it opens its eyes inside the body, it would give a clear vision and will make the person capable “to look into the spirit realm (348 )”. This belief is similar to the Indian Godess Kundalini and Lord Shiva whose union is considered as a divine marriage. The awakening of Kundalini with a proper guidance helps a person attain a spiritual awakening . Thus both the countries beliefs are similar.

    These are the similarities that are found in comparison between Australian and Indian mythological snakes. There are also several differences between the two countries that are to be dicussed and analysed further. The first difference is that the Indians worship snakes in contrast to Aborigines who considered it as sacred and as an ancestor but not worship it. They consider it as one among their livehood. The next main difference lies in the way these stories are told. Indians call it as mythological stories whereas Australian Aborigines call it as dreamtime stories. Jonathan.W.Stanley says, “some have considered the snake as sacred while others have given a divine status worthy of worship. (62)”.

    Australians consider their culture itself to be in the shape of a snake. Wherever a period ends, from there continues the next period continuing in a zig- zag position exactly in a snake form. 

    The Nagas and the Rainbow Serpent are equal in their size but do vary in their hoods. Most of the Indian snakes have more than two heads. Sheshag has thousand heads and Kaliya has five hoods and so on. But the case is different with the Rainbow Serpent. No matter how long he is yet he does not possess more than a single hood. Jonathan points out that, “the legends of the Nagas found in both Hinduism and Buddhism refers to heavenly snakes, often with numerous heads (64). Even their appearances differ. Nagas are given human form. They are half human and half serpent creations but the Rainbow Serpent is not given a human form, rather it is a snake even in its appearance and sometimes has a fox’s head, crocodile’s tail, tentacles, etc.    

    There are many festivals conducted as a mark of respect to the snakes in India. Occasions like Nagapanchami, Nagamandala, Adi Velli, etc are celebrated in different states. There are a number of festivals found in the serpent worship of India. Australian Aborigines celebrate only one such festival which is named after the Rainbow Snake as the Rainbow Serpent Festival in a more grandeur manner. Indian snakes are seen as semi-divine beings and the Rainbow Snake is sacred and a savior.

    Many countries including India are of the opinion that that the shedding of its skin symbolises immortality. The snake’s ability to shed off its old skin and to grow a new one indicates birth and death as a cycle for every creation. It also stands for immortality of the soul or a  spirit. But such a concept is not seen in the Australian Aborigine life.

    Indian legends narrate that certain Nagas are the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. They even serve as canopies to Gods. When Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu was born, He was taken to Gokulam in a basket while it was raining. At that time Ananta, the canopy of Lord Vishnu, served as an umbrella till Krishna reached the place safely. The snakes are believed to be the incarnations of Gods and are hence treated equally to God. But such kind of beliefs is not seen with the Australian Aboriginal people who look at the Rainbow Serpent only as the ancestor and as their mother of creation. They do not give it a divine form. These are the differences that are analysed among the countries. Thus, the stories of India are more mythological whereas the stories of Dreamtime are more legendary in their approach.

    When it comes to myths that prevail among people, there is a commonality that all Aboriginals and Indians believe in certain fake stories or myths that can be called as ‘superstitions’. Both countries seem to hold the same position in believing fallacies but not the facts. The first belief is about snakes drinking milk. People till now, in this belief serve snake with milk. But science has proved that they have an aversion towards milk. They would lick water when they feel thirsty but not milk. This might be because as O.C.Handa said, the people sacrificed human beings whoever dug the ground. Later, they were all scared of their own safety of lives and decided to compensate such a sacrifice with offering milk. Milk was chosen since Indians consider cow to be the most sacred animal since it gives out a part of its blood as milk. Australian Aborigines were at times afraid of the Rainbow Serpent in spite of the swallowing to be considered as a ritual. Hence they might have tried to develop a relationship with him by offering whatever they had.

    Nagas and Rainbow Serpents are said to be the guardians of treasures and if anyone tries to steal the treasures or try to touch them without the knowledge of these guardians, the person will get into serious trouble. This myth prevails throughout India. The snakes, when threatened usually try to hold and defend their space. They first try to threaten the offender and if it does not work out, they start fighting rather than threatening. Handa shares his experience about his encounter of deadly cobras while they were conducting an exploration in Haryana, 1998. He says, “To our surprise wherever we removed buried bricks, we encountered more of the deadly cobras from the burrows than the old relics. Assuming that the ‘ancient treasures are buried deep in the ruins, vigilantly guarded by the cobras and Kher Pir, about which the villagers were very sure, we abondened further exploration.” (108)

    But the author has never pointed out if anyone had found out the treasures which are a mystery. Hence the myth has been created. Some people believe that a snake is connected with deceit, just because they have forked tongues. In India there is a story where Nagas cut their tongues while licking the spilt elixir. Further, they believe that tongue is a mode of speech and loyalty, contradictory to human beings’ tongues; snakes have two ends which signify deceit.

    The truth is that a snake has a forked tongue which acts as a sensory organ which could sense the presence of its prey through the radiation of heat from the prey. This enables the snake to catch it’s prey easily, though it does not have eternal ears but the snake charmers make people it through their capability in making snakes move for their music. Theodre says that a snake moves through the vibrations of the music played by snakecharmers. For this reason, some musicians oppose to play a raga named “punnakaravaalli”( 950) which creates heavy vibrations. 

    Serpents are further connected with vengeances and vindictiveness. People believe that if snakes are caught, they have to be killed. Otherwise,  it would escape and later bite the person who tried killing them out of vengeance. Actually a snake is not vengeful. A snake’s tendency is to bite.  It does not know that it is venomous. Jonathan says, it is often believed that snakes always travel in pairs. Further, if one snake is killed, the other will seek out vengeance. This story is likely the result of more assumptions based on a few observations of more than one snake in a general area. However, snakes do not travel in pairs and certainly do not care about avenging the death of another snake. (72 )

    It has venom which is the only mode of attacking its prey. The venom’s actual purpose is to kill the prey. Hence snakes do not know that even if they bite other creatures, would lead to their death. It first tries to threaten the attacker through its speed or “camouflage” which means the protective colour and shape that protects it from its predators. If all these do not work out, then they bite.

    Snakes scare people by being revengeful. This revenge comes not only comes when it is attacked. It tries to kill people who have killed its pair. This is one of the most prevalent myths. The partner would trace the person who killed its pair. Science says that no snakes are paired and they do pair or mate only in the breeding season. Other than that they do not have mate at all. Theodre Baskaran for a Tamil magazine ‘Uyirmai‘ says, “there prevails a myth that snake is vengeful and strikes the person who either killed its pair or tortured it. It climbs a tree top and also looks at the funeral rites done to that person which is ridiculous (50)”.

    Unlike cobras that have very sharp eyes, other snaks cannot remember anyone after sometime. Though cobras have good powerful sight they do not take revenge on other living beings. Even if the person, who attacked it earlier, stands before it, it would not mind, because it does not remember or recognise that person. Snakes are known for their loss of memory. They do not have enough memory power like certain other animals to recognize anyone one other than the ones that are grown as pets.

    After a few seconds it would forget  a particular person and would slowly go away  by crossing him. A snake can bite anyone mistaking them for  its prey. If anyone move’s one’s legs or hands, it seems like a prey to a snake’s eye. It is so because snakes do have a blurred vision. So it tries to catgh its prey and bites the hands of a person. Other than mistaking hands or something movable to be a prey, it can bite a person when threatened.  It is not a bite and specialists  call it a “nip ‘ or a “dry bite” says Theodre Baskaran. He further says that its intension is not exactly to bite, but to threaten the offender. These are the two types of bites.

    Being confused by people out of fear. Australian herpetologist, Brian Bush says that ear is the reason for saying things that a snake was about to bite anyone. This is often considered as revenge and vengeance. No snake is really vengeful.

    Mythology has stories that portray certain snakes to be vengeful which is only to teach that beig so would lead to bad circumstances. Other than that , there are no records given by any  scientists  or snake specialists  that they have these qualities. Brian Bush criticises  certain specialists  who portray Australian snakes to be deadly venomous and the most dangerous. In his article, “Australia’s venomous Snakes: The Modern Myth or Are You a Man or a Mouse”(2007) wonders what would be the reason for such a myth. He questions , “Could it be that many of the researchers involved are government’s funded. They would have a vested interest  in obtaining results that would most suit a favourable decision on continued funding (3)”.

    Indians believe that a cobra can spit rubies that are formed from its venom without biting either its prey or others for several years. This ruby dazzles at night and through this light it can even search for its prey. It is believed that the ruby’s twinkling can be controlled only by  spreading cow dung. When the cobra comes to know of its ruby being stolen, it traces the thieves and would kill them to get it back. Other than these , there are some other myths where , even when the word “snake” whispered at nights , it would be heard by them to visit the house. This is  purely out of fear, but there is no logic in creating such myths. Theodre Baskaran says that this is also a common myth that can be hardly believed.

    Many people, in India especially are too loyal to these myths. It has been believed  for a long time that a person with the name of a snake like “Nagaraj, “Nagaranip” “Nagendran” and so on are not supposed to kill a cobra which would lead to severe troubles for them. The editor of  3 snakes earlier. Young men who have been educated at English schools, however, have no such great reserve, and a Maratha Brahman so educated, informed the editor that he had killed three of them.(6511)”.

    Further, it is believed that a snake’s curse would lead to “leprocy, itch bareness in women, deaths of children, frequent appearance of snakes in house and garden and other diseases and calamities (6519)”. As told in Indian Enclopedia which would be brought about by poison. Indian Enclopedia also tells a tale that happened around AD 1830. It says that a Brahman purchased premises in the town of Dholka where he found a great deal of property guarded by a snake. It came in his dream and ordered him not to harm it. “…a large snake appeared to the Brahman by night in a dream, and said to him, ‘this property is mine, and I live here for its protection; therefore you must not injure the chamber, nor covet the treasure which it contains. If you do so, I will cut off your posterity’. (6514)

    But he acted greedily and killed the snake and had owned the treasure for himself. As a result he never had a son and whoever received a part from his property was childless. “with the treasure he had thus obtain he erected splendid buildings: but never had a son, and his daughter remind childless, and whoever received a part from his property, or became his servent, or acted as his agent or his priest, was childless too. (6514)’. Hence, as a mark of respect and to calm them down as they may be the ancestors, most people have snake shrines in front their houses. 

    Australians and Indians do believe in a myth that snakes swallow their young ones to protect them from any danger. Usually, snakes are cannibals, eating their own species. They eat other snakes, especially Cobras and Anacondas feed on other snakes. A dead snake when dissected would contain many young ones. As observed by Eric Worrell, a snake specialist in Dangerous Snakes of Australia, “Snakes often swallow other snakes for food, and newly killed snakes when opened or frequently found to contain number of living young, but these are Oviparous snakes, which produce their young fully formed.(66)”. Snakes eating other snakes or oviparous and produce eggs and hence they do not swallow their young ones to protect them. 

    A dying snake would disgorge a live snake due to indigestion. This is because at times, the venom injected will not be more effective to react immediately and hence a swallowed snake would be regurgitated which would kill preys with powerful juices. Hence what snake that disgorges is not its young ones. Eric Worrell stresses on this point by saying : A dying snake has been seen to disgorge a live snake, but the explanation of this is that although snakes are cannibals, their venom does not always have an immediate effect on other snakes, and therefore if a snake is disgorged before it reaches the stomach, where it would be killed by powerful gastric juices, it will be alive when disgorged. (62).

    This act of disgorging can be compared with the Rainbow Serpent who swallows and often disgorges people which are also considered as a ritual.

    The most important and the most effective myth is that two snakes, a male and a female will entwine and dance in a union by rising about a foot or two. And throwing a cloth on them at this time would bring more luck on earth. In reality, if two snakes are entwined, no one would dare to throw a cloth and touch it again for the fear of death – not by a single bite or many. It is partially true that two snakes entwine but not a union of male and female. It is a mortal combat between two males to win a female during breeding season.

    The famous cartoonist Madhan has written a famous book Manidhanukkulle Oru Mirugam in which he has argued that the entwinement of  snakes is not considered a union rather, two male snakes fight for female to mate with. The same idea is put forth by David  Fleay in Talking of Animals  who has witnessed a fight  between two large  black snakes. He says, “the mating season extends over October and November and on suitable warm days these bitter struggles occur between males over the favour of Comecoy,  glistening – scaled lady, or over trespass upon one another’s territory (11 )”.

    The entwining in several countries is considered as a symbol of medicine. But in these two countries they are considered as a symbol of human union, sexuality. Hence such stories have to be prevented from the further development of other stories , creating a bad impression on snakes.

    One thing has to be noted and wondered. After learning the legendary stories from the ancestors and the elders, people have started creating their own stories. Though they could not get into the actual facts, they are capable only to come out with such stories that would end up in laughter. Hence the efforts and imagination can be appreciated. People alone are not responsible for such myths, the main cause of it has been the movies taken. The part played by Bollywood and Kollywood abut creating several stories like a snake’s vengeance, revenge, spitting rubies  and so on have a great impact on the public. Money making is the only motto of movie makers and this has resulted in having snakes in the bad books of the people.

    The tree” Nagalinga” is so called because the flowers are in the shape of Lord Shiva’s Lingam and hence they are the favourite of snakes who are the garlands of Lord Shiva. So, the cobras often visit these trees to worship their Lord. The myth is half true about the snake’s visit. The reason is that the flower has a unique and a pleasant smell which attracts them very much. People misunderstand this for some other reason. Snakes even like the smell of the  Ketaki  but no one considers it to be a sacred one other than offering them to god as garlands. 

    Hence, the myth kindles the fear in everyone’s heart. Rosemary van den Berg points out in her Aboriginal Storytelling and Writing , “all these stories referred to the Aborigines environment or the practices of their everyday life (1)”.  And the Indian mythological stories are to refine man’s way of living one’s life. When a person understands the Dreamtime, the mythological stories and the habitat of snakes completely, myths have no values at all.

    Even the dreams of snakes are represented with certain  interpretations among many countries. Dreams about snakes have both good and bad signs that are sometimes strange to correlate with the meaning or the interpretation. Being threatened on seeing a long snake in a dream implies that an enemy is working against the person who dreamt it. Being chased by a snake implies that bad luck and problems will chase the person making them frightened about them. Such are the interpretations and there are many more interpretations  given by many people.

    To understand the dreams and their interpretations, a person has to understand its symbols first. Some symbols have fine notions by elders and a Sigmund Freud has also believed it in order to know the mind and psychology of a person. Hence, dreams cannot be filed under the category of myths or fallacies. But the dreamtime stories of the Aboriginal people are different that are logical than the ordinary dreams.

    Though the symbols in dream are psychic and concerned about the individual, the symbols of myths are concerned about a community, a nation that has a great impact on people and also on other countries. Thus, this chapter has dealt with the convergences and  divergences between the two countries and how their misconceptions have led several common myths. It has also focused on various interpretations of snakes in dreams and how these dreams differ from cultural beliefs.

  • Australian Aboriginal Mythology and Terrestrial

    The focus here is on the specialties and the different representations of the Rainbow Serpent by different tribes of Australian Aborigines. It also explains the stories that are told about the Rainbow Serpent among the infinite number of tribes that prevailed, and about the importance of the Rainbow Serpent in art and spirituality as well.

    Like Indian mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology also plays a vital role in the lives of the Australian people. Australian Aborigines were the people who were much attached to their environment. They created a world named “The dreamtime” and created a large number of stories to make people live an ethical and peaceful life. Kleinert and Neale, the editors of The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2000) quotes the French Anthropologist Barbara Glowczewski’s remark on Warlpiri  people who says, “the dreaming appeared to me not like a mythical time of reference but as a parallel space-time, a permanency in movement, with which the Warlpiri have a relation of feedback (41)”.

    She believes that a sacred site is “a connection between a foundational creation and current life (41)” that is well brought to the limelight through their stories. These stories were large in number, which deal with the creation of universe, earth, land, flora, and human beings. Each creation has a story behind it and in this way Australian Aboriginal myths have an exclusive creativity and the loyalty they had for their people and land and for their animals.

    These dreamtime stories still exist and preach people in all walks of life. A.W.Reed in his introduction to Aboriginal Myths, Legends, Fables (1993) observing their intimacy with their land and animals remarks that, “both men and animals were part of the endless Dreamtime that began with the deeds of totemic ancestors. Their deeds are part of life, and men are part of animals, as animals are of men, therefore both are usually capitalised in the text (10)”.

    Such has been the entry of the mythical creature named the Rainbow Serpent which plays a major role in the Australian Aboriginal myths and in the lives of Aboriginal people as well. There are about 400 types of Aborigines and this myth of the Rainbow Serpent is common to all of them. These tribes had their own dialects and languages living in different parts of Australia, especially Northern Australia.

    Hence the stories and symbols about the Rainbow Serpent also differs depending on the environmental conditions in which the tribes lived. Though there are a number of stories with many representations, they all believed in this huge called the among different tribes, but the only common name is the Rainbow Serpent.

    Each tribe called it differently among which some of the known names are Bobbi-Bobbi, Dhaka, Kaleru Julungul, Yurlunggur, Wonambi, Worambi and Woinunggur. The common name the “Rainbow Serpent” was first given to it in 1926 by a British Anthropologist professor Alfred Radicliffe-Brown. He specialised in Australian Aboriginal ethnology and ethnography and notices that some of the tribes had a common myth which was about the most powerful, creative and a dangerous snake in a gigantic size. He also found that it was associated with rainbow, rain, water, rivers, and blood.

    Radcliffe–Brown coined the term the “Rainbow Serpent” since there was no common name among these tribal people. And further, a common name was needed for the art galleries, museums and for the international people to know more about it. The serpent is named so because it was rainbow coloured. Brown found out the other names of this serpent in different areas like Takkan, Myndie, Bunyip etc.

    The serpent is mostly seen in celestial blue, multi-coloured and yellow red stripped. This colour variation is seen because of the use of myth in different tribes and countries. The Rainbow Serpent myth is common in Africa and Japan also. This creature is said to be huge with enormous powers. Though wingless, it could fly. The Rainbow Serpent is mostly either a copper python or a Taipan which is highly venomous. Armhem Land people believe that the serpent is made of the parts of different animals like kangaroo’s or a flying fox’s head, crocodile’s tail decorated with water lilies and waving tendrils.

    There are several representations about this serpent. They are fertility, destroyer of law breakers, creator of flora and fauna, a medicine man, guardian of water, rain etc. Each tribe considers him to be so, that suits their geographical location. He is a positive creature, yet he is believed to be greedy of water at times. He often swallows people and hence frightens them.

    The very first Rainbow Serpent created was called by people as Wonambi Naracoortensis, who was five to six metres long. He was not a predator and did not use its venom but would kill his prey by constriction. His head is small which expands accordingly to the size of the prey. This species has been found out to be the first extinct snake in Australia.

    This mythical creature of the Dreamtime was considered sacred by the Aborigines, since it was the first creation of the now known Rainbow Serpent. He is said to have lived during the Pleistocene Ice Age in the suntraps beside the waterholes. His prey has been kangaroo, wallaby and whatever came to drink water and hence children were denied the permission to go to such places.

    Many tribes believed that if there was no Rainbow Serpent, there would be no life to exist. Such was the power and guardianship of the great snake. The snake that gave water was the life-giving source to the people. He was considered as one of the greatest totemic ancestors. Most of the spiritual happenings of these Aborigines have been rooted from the journey of their spirit Ancestors.

    This journey has been rewarded as Dreaming Track which has given birth to several creatures, flora, and fauna. One of the most pervasive and well known of the spirit ancestors is the Rainbow Serpent, whose Dreaming Track is shared by many tribes. This is the reason for the serpent to be considered as the totemic ancestor.

    As the Aboriginal people do believe in two worlds, the one in which they live and the other is the Dreamtime, they consider this Rainbow Serpent as a rainbow that bridges both Heaven and Earth. Through this the Dreamtime is connected to the present world of reality and thus the creation of Mythical Ancestor connects both the present and the future which is the reason for the people to rely on him.

    Hence, there are many stories related to the Rainbow Serpent depending on the tribes. Yet there are several common elements among them. They believe that the Almighty God created Heaven and Earth, yet during the time of creation, Dreamtime had been passive, colourless, and lifeless.

    At that time, the Ancestor, the Rainbow Serpent has descended from the Earth creating valleys and rivers on the tracks made by him while crawling. Then filled the world with his creation of plants and animals. Certain people believe that he even created human beings. It has advised them to follow the norms he has created for them and he punished whoever went against the law.

    One of the stories says that the ancestor, the Rainbow woke up and came to Earth from the after a long period. It saw the land was dry and asked the frogs to come out from their places. They came slowly since they were feeling heavy with water tickled. The Rainbow Serpent tickled their stomachs and when they laughed water gushed out that filled the tracks made by the serpent. Through this it became the creator of water, billabongs, and rivers.  It is said that once an aged woman named Kunapipi made a long journey across the country in the Dreamtime who was preceded by the Rainbow Serpent. Being the creator of water, “he cleared the way for her by uprooting the trees and causing rivers to flow towards the sea (80) “. He has also created floods and storms.

    He stays in waterholes or rivers in wet seasons and during dry seasons, he stays in the mud and in rainy seasons. He seems to rise and fly like a rainbow. Like the Chinese dragon Yu, he sometimes carves deep in riverbeds while travelling across the Earth. Apart from these he also plays a duel role – creation and destruction like that of an Indian mythical snake.

    He also safeguards water and the people who follow him. He floods and storms to destroy the people whom he finds to be the lawbreakers. This is one of the reasons for the people to believe strongly in the Rainbow Serpent who guards them all through their lives.

    Kalseru has been the Goddess of rain and fertility found among the tribes of Northern Australia. One of the Rainbow Serpents is named Yurlunggul or Jullunggul who is the “great further” of other Serpents. There are two same stories with different endings varying among different tribes. In this first story, Julunggul, as he is called, lives in a waterhole.

    Two Walawag sisters, the elder who was pregnant and the younger one came to rest on the River Roper where Julunggul lived. The elder gave birth to a baby and they both took rest that night. Jullunggul who had be looked at them sleeping came out of the surface of the water smelling the blood of the elder sister. Seeing him, the younger sister, picked up some twigs and started dancing the whole night.

    Jullungul left them and went away. The younger sister felt tired of dancing which saved her elder sister and son. She then fell into an exhausted sleep. But after some time, Jullungul came back again and swallowed them all. He laid down for his prey to get digested. But before that an ant stung him and regurgitated the swallowed women out who were dead by then. He swallowed them again and took rest.

    He lay down to sleep but was bitten by an ant and stung to wakefulness. He disgorged the contents of his stomach, but the women were no longer alive. The sisters were swallowed for the second time and devoured at his leisure. (87)

    The same story has a different ending where the serpent is named Yurlunggul. He too swallowed them, but no ant stung him, instead he arched his body like a rainbow towards the sky and called his species to come out. All snakes creeped out and were shocked to hear what Yurlunggul had done. He said, “Dead. Dead. Entombed in my body. You see I have you snakes. Women are evil” for which the other snakes objected and blamed him for killing and eating his own kin. They further asked him to regurgitate them. Yurlunggul felt ashamed and disgorged the women and the child alive. They thanked everyone and continued their journey.

    Yurlunggul lowered himself. His mouth opened to its widest extent. With his body flat on the ground, he heaved. The women tumbled out of its mouth, and Misilgoe waited for her son who laughed and gurgled as he fell into the waiting arms. (392)

    The same story with two different versions is available, where once the women were dead and in the other story, they came alive again. These differences are due to the differences that prevail among people who change or develop the stories which suit their landscape and tradition. This difference does not prove that Yurlunggur is notorious but is one of its qualities to swallow people. When all his powers and guardianship are invited and accepted then his bad deed of eating people must also be equally accepted.

    In another story, a Rainbow Serpent existed and was called as Pulwaiya by the Aboriginal people which “father’s father”. One of such Pulwaiyas had been named Taipan, generally a Brown snake. He possessed many supernatural powers like a common Rainbow Serpent. He cured   people from their sickness.

    He could give relief to anyone who had inadvertently swallowed a bone by sucking it out of his body. He commanded thunder and lightning by magic with a sharpened flint attached to a string. By throwing it against a tree or stone, a sheet of flame flared out and the noise of the concussion would echo through the hills……………. he could cure men and women of their ailments. He had the power to cause rain and floods to devastate the countryside. (82)

    He had a son who was also named Taipan. Once the son took a long journey and, on the way, he met a black water snake who was the wife of Wala, a blue- tongued lizard. They fell in love at first sight and eloped before Wala came back from his hunting. Wala realised their eloping and somehow tried to find them.

    Taipan and Wala fought for a long time and gave up, for they both were equally strong. Wala decided that he would give Taipan the first chance to bite him and if Taipan failed, Wala would bite him. Agreeing, Taipan tried to bite Wala on his neck, but he failed since the lizard’s skin is rough and thick. He felt exhausted and tired.

     In no time, Wala grabbed Taipan and bit him on his neck. Not stopping with this he cut and tore open his heart. He took the blood and heart of Taipan to Pulwaiya. Thus, Taipan was punished, and Wala went away with his wife.

    Pulwaiya called all his children and everyone grieved over their sibling’s death. They all took some of the things as a remembrance of Taipan. His sisters took his blood and went back to their home in rainbow. That is the reason for the window to have a red mark in it followed by a blue one who is Pulwaiya himself.

    The rainbow is the totem site of his daughters, where the blood of their brother provides the red course in that shining bow, just as the blue course is that of Taipan, the Rainbow Serpent. (84). Pulwaiya had his son’s heart for himself and sank under a milk wood tree that stood close to the lake which was formed on the day by rain and blood. If anyone tried to disturb the serpent, thunder roared, and lightning would flash from the sky. His daughters would join him during dry seasons and when rain came, they would go back to their home in rainbow where their brother shines. This explains the ability of the Rainbow Serpent to control the blood supply.

    This attraction towards blood is the only reason for Yurlunggur to swallow the Walwag sisters. Chris Knight, a professor of Anthropology in his  Menstrual Synchrony and the Australian  Aboriginal Rainbow Snake (1986) quotes  from McCarthy  that the snake  was attracted  not only by the elder sister’s  after blood but also by the younger one who has just attained puberty and started  menstruating. It was also a puberty celebration, in the words of the mythical younger sister,” a very happy time, for this is my first menstruation (235)”.

    The flow of the two women has attracted him. Hence, it “came out of its womb like waterhole” to swallow the sisters and the child. He also suggests that the flow of blood is seen when the snake appears, ’where there is no blood, there is no snake (235)”. This attraction towards blood is seen in many of the stories and in one way it helps women, since a Rainbow Serpent is seen both as a male and female. It is considered as a male  since it guards people and acts as a life giving source and considered as a female since it guards women from being seduced by men. Women, especially Mungamunga tribal women consider the Rainbow Serpent to be the guardian mother, Yingama the mother of creation. She saves them whenever they are in danger. This is because when a woman wants to avoid having intercourse with a man, she could immediately menstruate.

    Women have two ways of avoiding men, through water and blood. The flow of blood helps themselves from the threat and heterosexuality. Once a man named Bananggala wanted Them to copulate with Mungamunga women.  avoided him by saying that they menstruated and hence he had to wait for a while.  This is one way of escaping. In another story, two men tried to encounter a Mungamunga woman. “They each say to him, I ‘ve got blood; You wait for a while (238)” as pointed out by R. Berndt in 1951.

    She relieved herself from their grip and jumped into the nearby waterhole and started menstruating. This is another way of avoiding heterosexual intercourse. Diving into the water makes them feel protected like being in mother’s womb. This is the reason for representing the Rainbow Serpent as the controller of the physiological process and a mother of creation. This belief is seen in the Mungamunga tribal people.” No sooner did they seize a Mungamunga and put her on the ground, ready for coitus, than she slides away, jumps, and runs down to the lagoon and dives into its water (239).

    Once a man named Purra was looking for a wife and while crossing a creek he found the water to be red. He decided that a woman must be there at the time of her menstruation and searched for her. He found a girl whose lower half was in the water and the upper half on the surface.  He realized that she was the daughter of the Rainbow Serpent and took her away. Purra was aware that her father would come in search of them. But the Serpent took his daughter back by creating a flood. The author says.

                “But he knew that her father, the serpent, would be after him”. He tried to run away but the serpent followed. Purra kept lighting fires to keep the Serpent away, but one day “the big rain came”; it extinguished Purra’s firestick and caused a flood into which Purra’s wife disappeared. (236).

    This story connects the idea of the Rainbow Serpent to be the mother who allows her daughters to be wet, that saves from men. It also shows the troubles of men getting married.  “…. links the notion of being wet or in the rains with a women’s menstrual state and consequent non- availability as wife. At the same time, it emphasises that to be “wet “and menstruating is to be under the guardianship of the serpent (240)”.

    The red colour of the serpent symbolises blood which stands for both fertility and guardianship of the serpent. It serves as a mother through the waterhole in which it lives, and this waterhole is considered as a womb which guards women from the hands of men. By guarding them it also serves as a responsible father. Thus, it acts both as a male and a female. Radcliffe – Brown believed that the Rainbow Serpent “represents the element of water (242)”.

    Warner believed that it represents “the symbol of weather (242)”.  Apart from these, there are many other representations of the Rainbow Serpent. The symbol of the snake being both a male and a female unites the genders together. It shows men and women are equal in all aspects and both of their lives are merged in unity like that of Lord Shiva and Kundalini or Shakthi.

    It is further believed by many of the tribes that the disgorging of the men or women by the serpent gives them a new life, a new rebirth. Chris Knight says, “The resultant power is conceptualized as a rainbow-like snake, which is said to be the source of life and which “swallows” human and then “regurgitates “them, now reborn (232)”.  Since he is also a symbol of birth and death, his disgorging of the Walawag sisters represents this and hence this becomes a religious ritual among them.

    The story of Taipan brings home the moral about the relationship that must be maintained between a man and a woman through marriage. Aboriginal stories teach adults and children how to lead a married life. Rosemary Van den Berg of Murdoch University in her Aboriginal Storytelling and Writing quotes J.E. Hammond’s view that, “They learn about marriage the right way- who they could marry, and who they could not marry.  Marriage the wrong could cause dissension and sometimes death to the perpetrators (55) “.

    His idea is clearly visible in the story of Taipan where the snake   Taipan elopes with another man’s wife and at last ends his life miserably but committing a big blunder which is considered a bad deed by the Aborigines.  It further shows that even the totemic ancestors committed several blunders and were also punished severely according to the blunders that they have committed.

    In another story in Northern Australia, a river flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria where the Rainbow Serpent and his wife lived. It is red and yellow stripped, and its wife was seen in blue. He does not allow anyone to waste water or to have fun by disturbing the water living creatures. If he finds anyone doing so, or catching a fish for sport, he punishes them.

    He often strolls with his wife after rain and their bodies stretch across the sky. Once, a lot of hailstones fell from the sky which surprised the people living there, they go near and found the stones burrow in the ground very slowly. They were unable to decide whether they vanished or went into ground.

    An old man asked them for a digging stick, and he dug into the ground. He found some worms moving and told people that they were the children of the Rainbow Serpent, which have hatched out of the eggs. At the bottom of the holes he found worms, which was not surprising, for if you dig in the right place you will nearly always find forms.

             ‘These are the children of the Rainbow snake ‘, the old man said triumphantly. ‘they have hatched out from the white eggs that fell from the sky ‘. (381)

    All these stories reveal the characteristics of the Rainbow Serpent in different forms. Apart from them, the Rainbow Serpent is also a symbol of Australian Aboriginal spirituality. The religious belief and customs of indigenous Australians have been influenced by other, most of them cultures   around the   world which is the impact of colonialism. Though some Aborigines share these beliefs most of them have derived spirituality from a sense of belonging to the land, their own people, and communities and by being a part of one’s own culture.

    Most of the communities believed in the same myth and had the prevailing spiritual expressions of the people have been rooted into them by the journey of these ancestors. Only by following their footsteps, they found a way leading to a spiritual life. Though the serpent has been in various forms, he has created spirituality among people which keeps them forever in the Dreamtime.

    He also creates a bond between the Almighty and the people helping them lead their lives peacefully. He does not stop with spirituality alone. Till now people use his shapes and forms in their art and craft. Artists use their creativity in designing the serpent painting. They believe that the Rainbow Serpent is the source of all life and especially spirituality is the main part of his other acts.

    There are even many brands producing company named after the Rainbow Serpent which has a greater value among people. The weapons of Aboriginal people made now like boomerang and the didgeridoo have good value which represents their cultural heritage. They further produce furniture, paintings, and unique jewellery. Such has been the impact of the Dreamtime creature, the Rainbow Serpent.

    All these combines to have a celebration and a get-together for the Australian people. They celebrate the Rainbow Serpent Festival once every year as a four-day celebration during the weekend of January. Thousands of people from are attracted towards it. This festival connects people from all walks of life, through the world where they experience and learn new things.

    Many talented hands are given a chance to exhibit their skills in front of everyone. Creative activists, dance music, medicine, health tips are provided to them.  Further, people find it a place where they can nurture themselves and share their views and ideas. They also conduct many soul healing and mind awakening tips. All these are dedicated to the Dreamtime Ancestor, which is named after him.

    All these stories and festivals prove the attitude of the Aboriginal people towards snakes which is different when it comes to other cultures. More like Indians, they look at them with a positive notion. Their intimacy with the totemic ancestor, which is basically a mythical creature and their benefits in being guarded and getting the source of life reveal that reptiles or animals were not rejected by these people from their lives. These people treat them with respect as they respect their environment since they are created for the welfare of the people themselves.

    It is to be noted that the Aboriginal people address the Rainbow Serpent as “he” or “she” and not as it. This shows their oneness with their land and animals by treating them with no difference. All these qualities are imposed on their children to follow their footsteps in their future. Hence, as  Rosemary  Van Den Berg in her essay “Aboriginal Storytelling and Writing” aptly comments, “storytelling was a learning process for them who learnt from an early age how to survive their environment by listening to their elders” (1).

  • Indian Mythology and the Superhuman

    India can be called as the land of snakes as there are highly venomous species like King Cobra. Further, there is a tradition regarding snakes to glorify them as Gods. This tradition began from the Naga race of ancient India. “Naga” is a Sanskrit word that refers to a deity or a class of entity or being. This term is ambiguous in nature since there exists a tribe named Nagas. It refers to certain snakes like the King Cobra and the Indian cobra which is called so since it is seen in India. An Indian Cobra is usually called “nag” in Hindi and a female is called Nagi or Nagini. In Sanskrit, Naga means a hooded snake and it is also commonly called a “sarpah”.

    These Nagas were talked about in the great epic Mahabaratha who many in number are in which some of them hold positive roles and some of them acting negatively. The epic calls them ‘the persecutors of all creatures’. They were said to have lived in ancient India with the traces that were found during the Indus Valley Civilisation in 3000 B.C. They had a custom of serpent worship which is claimed to have been in the pre-Aryan period.

    Nagas are the mythical semi-divine beings because of their half-human and half-serpent like appearance. Their origin is from their parents Sage Kasyapa and mother Kadru. They are also called as Kadreveyas from the name of their mother. The King of the Nagas is Varuna, the Vedic God of storms, whom they worship. They are the object of reverence in the southern parts of India where people believe that the Nagas are the symbols of fertility and believed to bring prosperity into families. Hence grand festivals like Naga Panchami and Nagamandala are celebrated as an honour to them.

    Snake worship has been one of the most prominent religious practices that are found in the customs of India. The Cobra or a Naga is the second most worshipped deity next to the cow all over India. The Cobra which is curdled around Lord Shiva is worshipped by almost all people. The rituals and worship differ from each state, though all the motives are the same. This kind of worship is very famous in Hindu mythology and in Buddhism.

    In Kerala, many famous temples are built exclusively for snakes. The two main temples are Mannarsala and Pampummaikatu. Seals that bear the symbols of snakes are found in the ancient sites of Harappa and Mohanjadaro. There are Jain temples in Rajasthan and Gujarat for Lord Mahavira, whose sculpture-like performing penance with serpents gliding all over his body is seen.

    A tiny Maharashtrian village Battis Shirala is said to be an area populated with an infinite number of snakes and hence the festivities there are more colourful. People of Punjab celebrate Guha Naumi in September and October. They make snakes with dough and take them around the village, offer flour and butter and they bury them.

    In Bengal, Goddess Manasadevi, ‘the remover of venom’ is worshipped. It is believed that the denial of her worship results in a person’s death but a snake bite in a family. One of her sisters Jagat Gauri too has powers over snakes. People of Orissa believe Manasadevi’s brother Ananta to be the King of snakes. According to the Himalayan regions, even before the use of urban culture, the tribes identified as austric people were nomads. O.C.Handa observes that the place where these people roamed were full of deadly snakes. They used to sting them whenever they happened to pass by marshy lands. Such horror has alarmed people to save their lives.

    They wanted to relieve themselves from such horror and fear of death. He says, “He represented that fear-psychosis in the form of a snake and started propitiating it with sacrifice”. He further says that such incidents might also have happened in other parts of the world. These bitter experiences might have made the primitive men believe that snake-propitiation would bring them relief. These fears gradually brought within them the thought of worship. Thus, the snake worshipping tradition came into being which is more common in the Hindu religion.

    A census taken in 1891 to know the various serpent worships, though it was not very successful since different types of animal worships were found. It has been noted in the Indian Encyclopaedia, “In the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh 35,366 persons were recorded as worshippers of the Naga, and 122,991 as worshippers of the snake hero, Guga Pir with other groups less numerically important; in Punjab, 35,344 persons were said to worship Guga.” 

    Naga Panchami is a festival that is common among Indians. On the day of Naga Panchami, certain rituals are practiced by offering eggs and milk to snakes, which is more prominent in Karnataka. In Shetphal, which is basically a village in Maharashtra, people have given a resting place for a cobra in their houses in a raft of the ceiling. They have also adorned a temple with the image of a seven hooded Cobra, on the idol of Lord Shiva.

    Serpent worship differs in different states, which is prominent to be noted. Though they are Nagas, there are eight pre-eminent snakes in Hindu mythology. They are Sesha or Adisesha or Sheshnaag, Vasugi, Ananta, Astika, Padmaka, Kulika, Manasadevi, and Kaliya. All these creations are the children of sage Kasyapa and Kadru. They had thousands of snakes as children and among them, these eight have their own position as deities in mythology. Apart from them, there is a serpent named Kundalini who rests on the body of a man.

    The myths about the snakes start from their mother Kadru. Kasyapa married the sisters, Kadru Vinata. Kadru got a thousand snakes as her children and Vinata had two, in which one is Garuda, the vehicle lord Vishnu. There had been a bet between the sisters about which Kadru was worried to win. Because it was decided that the loser would be enslaved to the winner. Hence, she had to seek the favour of her offsprings to win the bet. Some of them denied her wish to fix the bet by making her angry to the core.

    She cursed them to face a fierce death through a snake sacrifice that would be done by the King Janamejeya, the son of Parikshit, who was the grandson of Arjuna, the Pandava brother. Parikshit was cursed to be killed by a snake since he had disturbed and killed a sage during his penance by throwing a dead snake on his neck. On the verge of his death, the sage cursed the King to die by a snake bite and in a week’s time, a snake named Takshaka killed Parikshit.

    In accordance with his father’s death, Janamejeya arranged a snake sacrifice through which he could also kill Takshaka who had been hidden by the God Indra. Here comes the two-good spirited Nagas of the above mentioned eight snakes. They are Vasuki and Astika who play the major roles acting as the saviours of the Naga race. The curse of his mother Kaduru is well known to King Vasuki who tried to save his siblings. So, he decided to get one of his sisters named Jaratkaru married to a sage named Jakartu too.

    Vasuki believed that through their son, he could stop the destroyal of his race. The sage accepted the proposal of getting a half-snake and half-human bride. In due course, he left his wife and son named Astika. Astika the nephew of Vasuki was guarded by him who became a great philosopher and a minister in the court of King Janamejeya. The sacrifice began and the scream of the serpents seemed to have terrorised the whole universe.

    “Takshaka is the friend of Indra. Under Indra’s protection, he feels safe from retribution, so his conceit has grown boundless. However, there is a great sacrifice mentioned in the Puranas. It is the snake sacrifice. When this sacrifice is conducted, the snakes that are named by the Mantras (incantations) will be rendered powerless and be impelled to fall into the sacrificial fire. ‘Make arrangements to conduct this sacrifice. I shall assist you, for Takshaka has caused trouble for me also’. (1)

    When the sacrifice was halfway through, Astika came to the rescue of the surviving snakes including Takshaka. He talked sense to the King and stopped him from killing his race immediately. This made his uncle Vasuki happy. Astika said: “I am a Brahamana, but my mother Jaratkaru, is the sister of Vasuki, the foremost of the serpents. She sent me here to stop your sacrifice and to save her kinsmen. Even Lord Brahma desires that you should remain content with slaying so many snakes. The snakes, that are left still (excluding of course, this vain Takshaka), are virtuous and not deserving to be destroyed. Your glory will only increase if you spare their lives.” (4)

    Vasuki also has a great part in creating the elixir of immortality. He was used as a rope to churn the elixir from heaven, with Devas holding his head and the asuras at the other. At that time, he secreted his venom in tiredness and that venom was drunk by Lord Shiva whose wife Shakthi stopped the venom in his throat itself.  This gave the Lord the name, Neelakanda. In the words of Friedhelm Hardy, a reader in Indian Religions, In his The Religious Culture of India; Power , Love and Wisdom says that “The two classes of non-human beings, the Devas and asuras, churned it and produced the essence of all good and bad things in the cosmos; the ‘nectar’ – drink of immortality and pure being – and a world destructive poison (41 )”.

    Then comes the story of Shesha or Sheshnaag, a snake with thousand heads. Hence, he is also called as Sahashrashirsha forming a massive hood. He has been one of the sons of Kadru who was fed up seeing his siblings fighting among themselves out of enmity. So he decided to separate himself from them and did penance and meditations devoted to Lord Brahma. Once Lord Brahma appeared and blessed him with the duty of holding the earth which has become populated with many people.

    Shesha said, “They hate each other as if they were enemies and are jealous of each other. They also hate Garuda and our stepmother Vinatha. After all, Garuda is our brother and they should not cause so many unnecessary troubles to him. Therefore, tired of them I am praying to you to grant me the wish that at least after my death I shouldn’t have to live with them.” (6569)

    He was also blessed with eternity. Sheshnaag has been loyal to whatever he did. He involved himself completely in meditation and prayed for the welfare of the world and the people. He told Brahma that he disliked the behaviour of his brothers who were evil natured. Thus, he wanted to save the lives of Brahma’s creations in the world and was in course blessed with what he wished for. Puranas say that Shesha is still holding the earth, bearing its heaviness and about his loyalty in holding the burden till date.

    “O Father of this world grant me this wish that my intelligence may be used for the pursuit of goodness, prayers, and strength. “As instructed, Sheshnaag went through the earth, held her from all sides, and placed her on his head. From that time Sheshnaag has been still and patiently carrying the Earth on his head.”(6569). He is also believed to be the couch of Lord Vishnu. He is further believed to spew venomous fire which destroys all creations at the end of each kalpa and is also worshipped as a manifestation of Vishnu.

    Manasadevi, the sister of other Nagas and the Goddess of Nagas is worshipped by people, especially women. She is the Goddess of fertility and is believed to fulfil one’s wishes. She is the protector of people who suffer snakebites. She possesses some special powers of counteracting snake venom and protects the mortals from snakebite. She is further associated with higher knowledge and is mostly worshipped in the eastern part of India.

    She blesses a person with wealth and property as well. She is worshipped more often during the rainy season since it is an active season for all snakes to come out of their hiding places. It is also said that Manasadevi has once requested her father Lord Shiva to include her in the pantheon to be worshipped by all people.

    For which Shiva has replied that if King Chand of Anga Kingdom agrees to worship her, then he would satisfy her wish. After a long struggle, Chand accepted to worship her but only with his left hand. Her temples are found in Haridwar and Chandigarh. Like Gods, Goddesses were also created giving prominence to the female gender. In the same way, every Goddess is till now worshipped by both men and women. Apart from Goddess Manasadevi, Indian movies regarding snakes, visualise them as either Nagins or only as Goddesses, giving prominence to women generally. Women assume most of the cobras to be Goddesses and worship them by decorating the anthills.

    Unlike the above mentioned Nagas, Kaliya or Kalinga is a five-hooded serpent who lived in the depths of the river Yamuna. He has troubled the people thereby denying them to pass by his area. The air was poisoned through his venom which killed many people. Lord Krishna, who was a young mischievous boy then, heard of him and went there to teach him a lesson. Krishna and his friends went there and started playing. Hearing noises, Kaliya came to the surface to destroy all of them. Lord Krishna at that moment stood on his hoods and danced by stamping his feet on all the five hoods. King Kaliya started bleeding and realised his mistake. He became weaker and weaker. Then he was left free.

    Since his wives begged Krishna to spare his life. From then he became devote to Lord Krishna. Great Indian Epics says that: Kundalini is different from the above-mentioned snakes but plays a very essential role in every human’s life. It is found in the “muladhara chakra (4145)” of a man. It means “coiled” which is an energy and is symbolised by a serpent having three and a half coils, sleeping with its tail in its mouth. Kundalini is often referred to as a Goddess who resides in a human body, occupying the base of the spine “muladhara chakra”. The exact place is a little above the rectum.

    Usually, Kundalini lies in deep sleep without being disturbed and it is often unnoticed. If it is disturbed from its sleep, it leads to serving consequences and it symbolises the art of spiritual awakening, which has to be done with a guru’s guidance alone, Kundalini is a Sanskrit word meaning either “coiled up” or “coiling like a snake”. The Editor of The Indian Encyclopaedia quotes: When aroused and let loose without control and direction it rages like a vicious serpent so that it becomes impossible for a man to resist its force. Whatever supernatural powers he acquires through it will only bring him in contact with the lower orders of evolution and diabolical forces. (4135)

    This coiling acts as an ancient symbolic representation of Kundalini’s philosophy. Its origin must have been from Hermes and Greek Mythology. Legends say that Goddess Kundalini travels up the spine to meet her Divine mate which has been considered as the divine union of spirit and matter. She is also named as Shakthi. It is further said that when Shakthi or Kundalini is awakened, she sweeps people up from muladhara chakra in her wildest passion to reunite herself with Lord Shiva in the Crown Chakra.

    This is called a mystical Marriage which metamorphically symbolises the union of the male and female energies within their bodies. This is a kind of technique that awakens the conscience mind to the presence of the seven energetic chakras in the body. Thus, “the individual self merges in the universal self and attains the state of self- realization (4137)” The Goddess is not meant for curiosity or selfish reasons. Her force can be compared to a forest fire burning a huge forest. And hence a person must be careful before trying to awaken it.

    The editor of The Indian Encyclopaedia explains Kundalini as an old Sanskrit term. It is from the origin of the Hindu meditative tradition. These yoga techniques lead to a spiritual path through the chanting of certain sounds and words. He says, “Kundalini meditation was considered the highest form of this ancient yogic tradition of spiritual development. Kundalini energy is infinite, but it is mostly blocked in our bodies. Hence, Lord Shiva is believed to have overcome all the desires and passions. It is further believed that a snake is a fearful creature and by wearing it on Him, Shiva seems to save people from snakes. It reflects that He could even control such a dangerous creature.

    In contrast to the beliefs of Lord Shiva being garlanded by a snake, Lord Vishnu is being canopied by Adisesha who blesses people in the form of a snake. Lord Shiva is a destroyer of the universe whereas Lord Vishnu is a protector of it. Both Gods are contrasting in their attitudes, yet they both have snakes as their symbols which prove that snakes are both good and evil. At the same time, these two Lords represent the protector of the good and the destroyer of evil. Along with Hinduism, Naga plays a major role even in Buddhism. There are traditions that talk about Nagas playing a vital role in Buddhism, seen in all Buddhist countries of Asia. In Tibet, Naga has been equated with Klu that are the spirits dwelling in lakes and rivers guarding treasures. Chinese considers Naga with the Chinese dragon.

    The Buddhist Naga is usually a large cobra-like snake, mostly with a single head and at times with many heads. They have magical powers in them to change their forms into human beings. Mucalinda who sheltered Buddha also possesses these powers. Hence in some of the Buddhist paintings, a Naga is portrayed as a human being.

    Buddhists believe that one such Nagas wished to become a monk and tried attempting it. For which Buddha blessed him to have a rebirth to become a real monk. These Nagas are believed to have lived in Mount Sameru, whereas some are water dwellers and earth-dwellers. They occupied rivers, oceans, and undergrounds. There exists a belief that the Nagas survive in the underworld, Patala. They provide human beings with all kinds of pleasure. Friedhelm Hardy says: Underground caves and serpents can easily be accommodated in our picture of the earth; Patala and Nagas are their mythical expansion. And how they were expanded: We hear of palaces and parks, beautiful (Naga) Queen, of golden gates and ‘pleasures eight times greater than those found in the heavens.’ (33)

    For this reason, Lord Shiva’s perspective on snakes represents the symbol of desires and passions. Hence, He keeps such a temper under His control. They are the servants of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Virupaksa, who is the guardian of the western part. They are further believed to protect the Devas from the dangerous Asuras. These are the stories found in Indian cultures. Some of them are even now worshipped with temples built for them. There are several snake shrines found for King Vasuki all over India. Further, there are places where people worship even real living snakes. In Calicut, a snake temple feeds and protects several real cobras by the priests and worshippers. These snakes allow themselves to be garlanded by people who feed them, who are the ancestors in the form of snakes. This kind of worship is found even in Mysore.

    Not only the snakes are treated with importance, but the charmers are also given equal treatment. In Moribund, a village twenty kilometers away from Delhi, there are many snake charmers living with their families. And there is an association for them named All India snake Charmers Association. “These people who are expertise in catching snakes are basically the tribes named ‘Irular’”. Romulas Whitaker, a herpetologist and the founder of the Madras Snake Park brought them and rehabilitated them to protect the park. He was responsible for the development of the All India Snake Charmers Association, “says Theodore Baskaran in an article for the magazine Uyirmai “There are several snake worship temples found even in south India. In Vyasarpadi, Chennai, there is a temple where people are up to snake worship. Nagerkoil is also famous for it. There is a temple where a number of snakes’ images are carved on the stones. Sometimes the worship is done at the anthill which is the home of snakes. Recently, there has been serpent worship conducted in Rajarajeshwari Temple, Karumandapam, Tiruchirappalli for “Adi Velli”. This has been photographed in “Dhinamalar” on 18 July 2009. Since snakes are symbols of fertility, the Dhangars of Central Provinces believes that worshipping anthills at the time of marriages will bring lucky earth into the families. They follow this as a custom too. Apart from these are festivals like Nagapanchami and Nagamandala. Nagamandala is celebrated in coastal Karnataka which is an all-night ritual performed from December to April.

    Naga Panchami is celebrated on the fifth day of the light half of the month Sravana. It occurs during the rainy season, which means between July and August. In the month sravan, which falls in the rainy season, the Nagpanchami festival occurs, on which Hindus go in search of snakes, or have them brought to their houses by the Sampeli snake-charmers (6511)”.  People are keen about fasting which they call ‘vrata’. They avoid salt in their food and take an oil bath early in the mornings. It is further believed that the spinsters who undertake this ‘vrata’ along with the pooja by feeding snakes would get good husbands.

    Manasadevi is worshipped on this day and these idols are bathed with milk, flowers, ghee, and so on. The worshippers used to eat neem leaves which act as a guard against snake bites. The neem leaves have the power of curing snake bites and hence considered sacred and many snake shrines are kept under these neem trees which possess the powers of Goddess Manasadevi.

    Such are the powers of Indian snakes and hence they are worshipped as deities and many idols have been made with respect to them. These eight prominent snakes and several others are the ones that hold a strong place in support for the welfare of their devotees.

    Sachindra Kumar Meity points out in his Cultural Heritage of Ancient India that Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha are the aims of life. Dharma covers not only ethics but also religion and politics. Artha covers occupations, professional activity, and wealth. The Kama covers the relationship between male and a female through the medium of marriage and the last is Moksha which is the aim of obtaining eternity. He further says: The above four are closely associated with the four stages of life (Asramas): they are Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha, and Sanyasa. Brahmacharya or the first Asrama is the period of study and character building. Grahastharama is the life of a householder, a family man with his social and other obligations. It covers a major part of man’s life. He must see that his children are married and settled in life and to pay-off the religious and social debts of father and forefathers (Pitri-rinas).  After that, he can go for Vanapratha and renounce his worldly life and live in a forest as a sanyasi for meditating at the feet of God for his final liberation. (13)

    All these are taught to the people through the stories that have Gods and animals playing the major roles in leading a moral life. He further points out the words of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who says: It is not some secret doctrine or esoteric knowledge that has kept India vital and going through these long ages, but tender humanity, varied and tolerant culture and a deep understanding of life and its mysterious ways. Her abundant vitality floes out from age to age in her magnificent literature and art, though we have only a small part of it with us and many lies hidden or has been destroyed by nature or man’s Vandalism. (11)

    Thus, these concepts are seen in Hindu mythology which shape the lives of the people in all ways. For this reason, primitive men have created certain norms in the form of mythological beliefs that would be appealing and exciting. In this way, Indians are molded and shaped to lead a peaceful life.

  • Representing Belief in Indian And Aboriginal Cultures

    Part 1   

    Culture and Myth

    Literature is the art of a written work and a well written work achieves a universal appeal. The word ‘literature’ when translated, literally means ‘acquaintance with letters’. It has its origin in the Latin word ‘littera’ which means ‘letter’. It has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used or on the user. It can be applied to any symbolic records, sculptures, and paintings. It deals only with the texts composed of letters and symbols used in a language.

    Cyril Connolly in her work “Enemies of Promise” (1938) defines literature as the art of writing something that will be read twice and compares it to journalistic writings which are likely to be read once. Literature is more interesting than facts which attracts the readers more. It is because, a journalist toils hard in collecting the facts for the sake of the readers, but in turn the people never often look into the seriousness of their writing for newspapers. In contrast to journalism, anything that is put forth or suggested in literature is easily conveyed to the readers. Ezra Pound in an article “The ABC of Reading” (1934) has pointed out the same opinion as literature is news that stays news.

    As society is becoming diverse day by day, literature also keeps increasing accordingly. It comes out with several grand themes that help the readers to comprehend the diversity that has taken place in society in terms of culture in a better way. This leads to rearranging the ideas of the monolithic value system by the people who are the followers of the ancestors. Rearranging is necessary as these ideas have been misplaced by the present age according to its own convenience.

    These kinds of interpretations and change of ideas must be reset as it had been set earlier. The present age must realise the demerits that occur in the change of systems and their ideas. Thus, the writers need mythology, and such has been its entry into the field of literature, irrespective of the literature it deals with. Myths have helped not only literature but other disciplines also. It has been performing the unique role of unifying disciplines with literature.

    Mythologies differ in each culture. Those that prevail are true and acceptable. They represent the deepest desires and fears of human beings. They help people in understanding the mysterious and sometimes frightening form of the universal forces such as seasonal changes, fire, lightening, droughts, flood, and death. Throughout the history of human civilisation, these myths have an integral part in the development of human society. They have no cultural boundaries as they exist in all cultural societies. The saga of a myth has been passed on from one generation to another. It is like the traditional stories which usually involve supernatural or imaginary people that embody popular ideas on natural or social phenomena called “myth”.

    The word ‘myth’ comes from the Latin word “mythos” and from the greek word “muthos” meaning story. “Muthos” in turn comes from the “mu” meaning to make a sound with the mouth. In simple terms, mythology deals with the study of myths. Myth is one of the elements of human heritage. The myths might have probably originated when people started asking questions about the creation of the world and their role in it. The first “myth-makers” might have been wise old men and women who had a magical talent to explain the natural world who were poetic in nature.

    Thus, these myths became a mask for truth, either magical or unrealistic. Regarding the characters, if the hero of the myth happens to be a human being, it is usually not called a myth but a legend. If the stories are about supernatural beings like Gods which appear partly to be a myth, it is a folktale. Myths generally have heroes and other characters who posses’ superpowers, creations, curses and so on.

    The power of the concept of myth has gained through the following adaptability of several common ideas that are used in the analysis of social and political changes as:

                1.To explain the creation of the world

                 2. To explain natural phenomena

                3.To give story form to ancient religious practices

                4. To explain moral lessons and values

                5. To explain history

                6.To express, as dreams do the deepest fears and hopes of the human race.

    When myths are discussed, the term that surfaces to one’s mind is the “symbol”. In a broader sense, a symbol may represent anything which is of great significance. M.H. Abrahams in his A Glossary of Literary terms points out that “this term is applied only to a word or phrases that signify an object or event in turn signifying, or has a reference, beyond itself (311).”

    A symbol may signify anything. For example, ‘the cross’ symbolises salvation, purity, etc. Such significance occurred only after the crucifixion of Christ. This significance reveals that any symbol may have a significance of its own. Accordingly, every myth has its own symbols and each symbol signifies a single meaning or many meanings. Sometimes a symbol is confused with an allegory, but they differ from each other. Coleridge in his The Stateman’s Manual (1852) and Goethe in his Maxims and Reflection have pointed out that these two are different. An allegory may have a specific meaning by itself. As they both point out, allegory signifies an image and concept whereas a symbol signifies only an image that remains indefinite.

    A symbol is the most important and dominating feature in a myth. Symbols are mostly the images of Gods, evil spirits, passions, power and so on to create such symbols; myths have made an extensive use of animals. Almost all the animals are used as symbols to denote power, faith, fear, etc. Some animals like whales, snakes, peacocks, eagles, horses, and elephants symbolise many things. A peacock symbolises pride; an eagle symbolises heroic endeavors; a snake symbolises power, bliss, and fear.     

    Animals are also worshiped by many people. From the pre-modern societies, animal worship has become a common phenomenon. People began worshiping animals, because of myths created by ancestors. In myths when threatened by evil powers, Gods usually took the form of animals to hide themselves from those spirits. Further the ancestors created such myths to save themselves from dangers. From that time people started to worship animals and they also formed animal cults that represent Gods.          

    When such myths are discussed, naturally several superstitions began evolving around them and gained prominence because, myths are the basic belief of the ancestors, created for a practical cause, which in turn have become topsy-turvy. Ironically, these beliefs have become superstitious beliefs.

    Many writers have used these myths and superstitions in their writings. Goethe considers superstition to be the poetry of life. Though most of the people have understood the meaning of myths, yet these basic beliefs have come out in the form of superstitions. These points have been highlighted by some writers in their works and they try to make the people look at mythology in a better way.

    Myths have both positive and negative symbols. Mythologies of India and Australia treat them positively, whereas some mythologies of Greece and Christianity consider them as negative symbols. In Greek mythology, snakes are treated as evil spirits and as the destroyers of the lives of people. In Christian mythology, the snake is represented as the messenger of Satan sent to destroy human life through the ‘fall of man from the Paradise’. In Australian mythology, snakes are seen as protectors, destroyer of law breakers and so on. In contrast to the Australian Aborigines, Hindu mythology worships them. Such are the symbols of snakes that are treated differently in different cultures.

    Such notion about snakes that prevail among different countries are discussed in the project. These serpents are given a significant place in many mythologies. They form an integral part in almost all languages and cultures. They are used to represent many symbols of human life. Further, this thesis also tries to point out the beliefs that have turned out to be superstitions using the ancestral mythical creatures and the stories regarding them of both India and Australia. The influence of these stories to the present superstitious beliefs, are satirised by several writers in their literary works that are found in different languages.

    Alexander Wyclif Reed (1908-1979) of Australia in his book Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables (1993) has made an attempt in rewriting the Aboriginal stories making them easier to understand. He has written many books on Aboriginal tales and their legends. His book tries to bring home the idea of the mystic bond that existed between the Aboriginal people, their environment, and their spiritual life of the Dreamtime. Some stories of Reed about snakes have been taken for comparison. Indian writers have also made use of these myths in their works.

    Girish Karnad’s Nagamandala is one such work. He found out a new approach when other writers wanted to choose a subject that looked entirely alien to the manifestation of the native soil. The approach drew historical and mythological sources to tackle the contemporary themes.

    Similar to this are many writers like R.K.Narayan and Kushwant Singh, Tamil writers like Tamizhselvi, etc. They have written some works with snake as their central role of attraction. These writers highlight the basic beliefs and also the prevailing myths about snakes and snake worship. The knowledge of the scientific representation of a snake is essential in order to go deep into the beliefs of the ancestors.

    “Serpent” is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) which is commonly used in specifically mythical or religious context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific  zoology, but as a bearer of some symbolic values. A snake is a powerful totem animal, the symbol of death and rebirth and the symbol of transformation. It might well be the mascot for the new age. It has been the animal or the symbol of the ancient men and ancestors of some cultures.

    According to the investigation of Sir James Frazer in Comparative Religion and those of Sigmund Freud in Psychology, though extreme, they have shown that human beings tend to use a wider symbolism, even in thinking itself, to cover ideas  they avoid out of fear. Snakes are used to symbolise many aspects of human life. If a snake bites a person in a dream, it is a good sign and symbolises self-revelation. A person’s dream has a purpose in it. To find out the meanings of these dreams, one needs to understand the symbols. The symbols give different meaning to the dreams. Myths play a major role even in the dreams of people in the name of symbols. Hence the belief lies deep in everyone’s life as an outcome of every culture.

    In this context, this article focuses on the role, functions, and the significance of mythology in the lives of native people of Australia and India and how the role of mythology has been misinterpreted through misconceptions and misunderstandings by some people. It points out how in spite of these myths acting as a yardstick in leading a moral life, people look at these myths only in a literal sense. The article hence reinforces the need to study the deeper implications and significance of myths. People gradually step into certain superstitious beliefs that unknowingly affect and shake the basic beliefs of the natives and unstabilise the structure that binds a concrete society. Some writers are aware of these issues and try to stabilise them through their writings.

    An introduction to both Indian and Australian mythologies is beneficial before analysing customs and beliefs. Both the countries have their own reasons for the creation of such mythologies. Indian mythology is not only 1200 B.C old but is also considered to be vast. It is one of the richest elements of Indian culture standing unique in the world. There are infinite number of stories that are passed on from one generation to another through words or scriptures. These stories form the background of Indian mythology, acting as a medium to people to inculcate an interest in Indian culture and to impart values. These stories generally convey subtle facts and maxims to guide people in leading a moral life.    

    Since storytelling is an easy way to approach people, these facts and rules are conveyed easily. There are also stories to denote the same fact. Hence, each version of a story is correct in its own way. The origin of Indian mythology has been from Rig Veda, the old mythological heritage. During this time, people had faith in whatever they wanted to do. They saw God in forms such as –Agni, Vayu and Surya. They relied mostly on abstractions, though it was illusive and in a due course these Gods were given substantial shapes and characters. The two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were compiled in the late Vedic period.

    They gave rise to the concept of Trimurthi the union of Ani, Vayu and Surya who in Hindu mythology are named as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. This concept has become concrete in Indian mythology which is similar to Chritianity’s trinity-the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.

    There are four ages in Indian mythology, comprising Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Brahmainic. Om or Aum is the essence of Hinduism which denotes oneness with the supreme, both physically and spiritually. This is the first created sacred sound from which all other sounds were formed. This sound in the Upanishads does not only denote origination but also desolution, including past, present, and future.

    The idea of ‘atma’ or the soul plays an integral part in Hinduism. Sacrifice and performing penance have been the chief forms of worship.  The concept of performing penance with so many years of deep meditation, secluded from the world becomes the topic of interest. The Hindus believe more in Lord Vishnu the preserver and Lord Shiva the destroyer than in Lord Brahma the creator.

    Further, there are many creatures symbolizing different kinds of emotions and also as the vehicles of different Gods. Garuda, the King of birds is the vehicle Lord Vishnu, the peacock and the snake are the symbols of Lord Muruga and so on. From 900 B.C to 500 B.C, as Aryan culture commonly named as the Brahmanic Age gradually dominated Hinduism. When the concept of ‘atma’ came into Hinduism, the Brahmanic caste asserted that Gods need human priests to become powerful. Such was the arrival of the Brahmanic Age that celebrated pride in being the followers of Gods.

    From 500 B.C to 100 the age of Bhuddhism and Jainism came into being and dominated Hinduism.  After several years, the epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata were born and brought back the life of Hinduism. There are many stories that speak about Buddha how he acquired knowledge and strength to live a life of eternity in a spiritual way.

    Thus, all the ages are e considered more powerful and they complement each other with their own myths. But it is noteworthy that all these ages talk about the oneness of human beings with God in different ways.

    Australia is a multicultural society comprising people from all around the world. It always had a mixture of cultures. The most eminent Aboriginal and Torres Strait occupied the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea, which is now called the Torres Strait. These Indigenous people naves many tribal communities with different languages, cultural and traditional practices. It is believed that before 1788, there existed more than 700 languages within an estimated population of 7,50,000 people. Today the indigenous people comprise 2% as estimated within the population of 410000 in Australia.

    Due to the effects of colonisation, the people were removed from the lands, nativity and their sole identity of culture and languages. Early Australia was completely different from the present Australia. Those indigenous people had no facilities even to travel from place to place like carriages and so on. It had been an unspoilt land where people respected their environment, nature, and everything around them.

    Since they lived the lives of hunters and gatherers of lives, they ensured that they had enough food for future use and made sure that the food was never wasted.  Even women and children were trained to hunt smaller animals and to collect fruits. In order to maintain the fragile environment and due to seasonal variations, they kept roaming through the land. They also made it a point not to hunt at the same place and stored some food whenever they went. The places where these scattered are converted to cities, towns and so on with a mixture of contemporary and traditional thoughts and practices still existing.

    The indigenous cultures of Australia are considered the oldest of all cultures in the world for, they were able to change accordingly. These changes were due to the influence of other country people entering their land for trade. They exchanged not only goods but also songs and dances within their own indigenous people. Though they were adaptable to change and were culturally strong, some indifferences of Europeans affected them resulting in colonisation.

    Archaeological evidences show that indigenous cultures have changed many times accordingly to cope up with the changes of the environment. They were able to survive and struggle against their changes made in their culture by Europeans since 1788. Even before Europeans influence, the indigenous people had contact with other cultures like Dutch, Portuguese navigators and traders in sharing ideas and skills. These influences can be seen in the rock bark paintings.

    The complexity and richness of aboriginal cultures were not clear for the early colonists and hence their government policies were against the interests of the aboriginal people. And they have had profits from the labour of these aboriginals. Many forms and cattle came into their nation without realizing how the indigenous people treat their lands. Their land that was meant for food and spirituality was considered a land of trade alone. Further the colonists even prevented them from speaking their own languages, which resulted in the decrease of native languages from 700 to 250 at present. Yet there are traces of native languages in Australia now.

     When it comes to spirituality, there are many forms in it with different practices and influences by the impact of colonialism, both past and present. There are some indigenous people who believe in the cultures introduced in Australia by the Europeans. Yet, their religious beliefs derived from a scene of belonging to the land, sea and to nature and one’s culture. Their form and expression of spirituality differ from the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders. The Aboriginal spirituality was based on the stories of the stories of dreaming whereas the Torres Straight Islanders ‘spirituality was based on the stories of Tagai.

    Thus, between the two Aboriginal people’s lives are found much in detail than Tagai. It is because of the significance. So, W.E.H.Stanner , an Australian Anthropologist says, ‘the idea of a sign is thoroughly aboriginal…..’ Likewise art was central to the lives of Aboriginal people and was a product of their Dreaming. Thus, by practicing art singing, dancing, sculpting, and painting. Aboriginal people could assess the dreaming.

    Thus, dreaming had different meaning for different Aboriginal people. It being complex network of knowledge , faith and practices derived from stories of creation , dominates all spiritual and physical aspects of Aboriginal people setting out the structures of society and rules of behaviour in order to maintain the life of the land.

    The Dreamtime governed the way people lived and how they should behave and if rules were flouted, they were punished. The ‘Dreamtime’ or dreaming is often used to describe the time when the earth, and the animals and the human were created. The dreaming is also used by individuals to refer to their own dreaming or their community’s dreaming. The dreaming world was the old time of the ancestors. They emerged from the earth at the time of creation. Time began in the world the moment these supernatural beings were born out of their own eternity.

    The stories tell that the earth was a flat surface, in darkness, dead silent world. Unknown forms of life were asleep, below the surface of the land. Then the supernatural ancestor beings broke through the crust of the earth from below with tumultuous force. The sun rose out of the ground. The land received light for the first time. The supernatural or totemic they resembled creatures or plants and were half human, they moved across the baren surface of the world. They travelled hunted and fought and changed the form of the land. During their journeys they created the landscapes, the mountains, the rivers, the trees, the waterholes, plains, and sand hills. They made all the celestial bodies, The sun, the moon, and the stars. Then wearied from all the activities the mythical creatures sank back into the earth and returned to their state of sleep.

    Such stories help the people to know the origin of the ancestral spirits and where they went to rest. These are the explanations to hoe people came to Australia and the links between the groups throughout Australia. In essence, the dreaming comes from the land. The Aboriginal society people did not own the land, but it was a part of them and part of their duty to respect mother earth.

    Dreaming stories vary throughout Australia and there are different versions on the same theme. Thus, in more recent times there are stories telling the arrival of the first European ships are stories about trading with Macassan fisherman in northern Australia. Tagai is a collection of stories which is the cornerstone of the Torres Straight Islanders’ as sea people sharing a common way of life. Tagai enables orderliness in the world and ensures placement for everything.

     Both the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders have a complex system of family relations where each person knows their kin and their land. This extension of family relationships formed the core of indigenous kinship systems enabling transmission of culture from one to the other and also in the organization of society.  Story telling in indigenous Australia is still an important way of passing information to people. These stories also in various forms such as music, plays poetry and books keep the traditions and heritage of indigenous Australia alive and also within the wider community paving the way for clearer understanding and awareness among people.

    The Aboriginals believe in two forms of time: two parallel streams of activity. One is the daily objective activity and the other is an infinite spiritual cycle called the dream time  which is more real than the reality itself. It was believed that some people of unusual spiritual powers had contact with dream time.  They also believed the idea of eternity in the dreaming and it bound the life of the individual even before the beginning of his life and continued to exist even after his death.

    Thus, the aborigines believed in the beings while the Europeans believed these cultural ancestors to be magical. When observed deeply, these stories would have many aspects of life to be realised.

  • Booker Prize Award Winners

    1969P H NewbySomething to Answer For (novel)UK
    1970Bernice RubensThe Elected Member (novel)UK
    1970J G FarrellTroubles (novel)UK/Ireland
    1971V S NaipaulIn a Free State (short story)UK/ Trinidad and Tobago
    1972John BergerG (experimental novel)
    1973J G FarrellThe Siege of Krishnapur (novel) UKUK
    1974Nadine GordimerThe Conservationist (novel)South Africa
    1974Stanley MiddletonHoliday (novel) UKUK
    1975Ruth Prawar JhabvalaHeat and Dust (historical novel)UK/ Germany
    1976David StoreySaville (novel) UKUK
    1977Paul ScottStaying On (novel) UKUK
    1978Iris MurdochThe Sea, the Sea (philosophical novel) Ireland/ UKUK
    1979Penelope FitzgeraldOffshore (novel) UKUK
    1980William GoldingRites of Passage (novel) UKUK
    1981Salman RushdieMidnight’s Children (Magic realism)UK/ India
    1982Thomas KeneallySchindler’s Ark (biographical novel)Australia
    1983J M CoetzeeLife & Times of Michael K (novel)South Africa
    1984Anita BrooknerHotel du Lac (novel)UK
    1985Keri HulmeThe Bone People ( A Mystery Novel)New Zealand
    1986Kingsley AmisThe Old Devils (comic novel)UK
    1987Penelope LivelyMoon Tiger (novel)UK/ Egypt
    1988Peter CareyOscar and Lucinda (novel)Australia
    1989Kazuo IshiguroThe Remains of the Day (historical novel)UK/ Japan
    1990A. S. ByattPossession (historical novel)UK
    1991Ben OkriThe Famished Road (Magic realism)Nigeria
    1992Michael OndaatjeThe English Patient (historiographic metafiction)Canada
    1992Barry UnsworthSacred Hunger (Historical novel)UK
    1993Roddy DoylePaddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (novel)Ireland
    1994James KelmanHow Late It Was, How Late ( stream of consciousness)UK/ Scotland
    1995Pat BarkerThe Ghost Road (war novel)UK
    1996Graham SwiftLast Orders (novel)UK
    1997Arundhati RoyThe God of Small Things (novel)India
    1998Ian McEwanAmsterdam (novel)UK
    1999J. M. CoetzeeDisgrace (novel)South Africa
    2000Margaret AtwoodThe Blind Assassin (historical novel)Canada
    2001Peter CareyTrue History of the Kelly Gang (historical novel)Australia
    2002Yann MartelLife of Pi (Fantasy and adventure novel)Canada
    2003DBC PierreVernon God Little (black comedy)Australia
    2004Alan HollinghurstThe Line of Beauty (historical novel)UK
    2005John BanvilleThe Sea (novel)Ireland
    2006Kiran DesaiThe Inheritance of Loss (novel)India
    2007Anne EnrightThe Gathering (novel)Ireland
    2008Aravind AdigaThe White Tiger (novel)India
    2009Hilary MantelWolf Hall (historical novel)UK
    2010Howard JacobsonThe Finkler Question (comic novel)UK
    2011Julian BarnesThe Sense of an Ending (novel)
    2012Hilary MantelBring Up the Bodies (historical novel)UK
    2013Eleanor CattonThe Luminaries (historical novel)New Zealand
    2014Richard FlanaganThe Narrow Road to the Deep North (historical novel)Australia
    2015Marlon JamesThe Brief History of Seven Killings (historical novel)Jamaica
    2016Paul BeattyThe Sellout (satirical novel)US
    2017George SaundersLincoln in the Bardo (Historical/experimental novel)US
    2018Anna BurnsMilkman (novel)UK
    2019Margaret AtwoodThe Testaments (Dystopian setting, Science fiction)Canada

  • Of Friendship

    The opening lines of Francis Bacon’s essay is a statement of Aristotle, which means that man is naturally gregarious and that it is unnatural to avoid the society unless he performs meditation or has a contemplation of the divine. Bacon says that living in a crowd as in a great city may also loneliness and the lack of true friendship. He makes three points in favour of friendship. It is important to release pent-up emotions, worries, cares and so on and to share these emotions make friendship an essential. Kings and great rulers are lonely people who definitely need such kind of support and emotional release. He gives examples of Sylla and Pompey, Caesar, Brutus, Augustus and Agrippa, and so on. Friends are considered important in spite of having wise children and close relatives and to confide in a true friendship is equally important as a family. It doubles the joys and lessens the burdens in sharing.

    The second aspect is that it allows to clarify ideas and thoughts through discussion and argument. There can be sounder arguments that can allow one to come to a proper decision on the issue. It also allows Anderson to understand and find the weakness and strength of one’s arguments. A friend can also contribute to the judgement and further add his advice as a caution or encouragement. The advice from a friend is more reliable since he knows personally than any other outsiders.

    A friend can be useful in several ways, he can help in advising on the marriage of our children or the completion of work. He can recommend his friend to others and enable him to act or speak without emotional involvement. No man can really afford to be without true friends. This essay is more warm and personal than the essay on love. Plato, Aristotle – to whom he owes much and many writers of the classic have gone deeper into the subject than anything else, yet this is one of his largest essays.

  • Aristotle’s Poetics (Part III)

    Aristotle’s Poetics (Part III)

    The artistic ornament in a diction implies the rhythm, harmony, and song. Rhythm and harmony in verse may be used to develop some parts and song to imply others. They are all designed to enrich the language of the play to make it more effective. There are a few aspects included in a tragedy and omitted in an epic.

    Tragedy

    Form of action

    Needs much greater concentration

    Has all the elements which an epic has

    More effective

    Has music and spectacle

    Reality of presentation

    Unity of action

    The tale is told with the help of living/moving character

    The speeches and action make the tale

    The dramatist is nowhere seen

    Intended to be acted and read

    Epic

    Artistic ornament

    Lengthy

    Certain elements of tragedy are not seen

    More comprehensive and varied

    Lack of music and spectacle

    Reality and unity are missing here

    Has only rhythm, harmony and song

    The narrator of the story is the poet

    The poet is free to speak in his own person or in the likeness of the character. Only to read

    The Structure of the Plot

    A plot is the soul of the tragedy. It rules out a plurality of action. The artistic arrangement of incidents is of prime importance in it.

    Unity of Time

    The tragedy should confine itself as far as possible to a single revolution of the sun, i.e., conformity of the time taken by the events of the place. A good tragic plot has to arouse the emotion of pity and fear in the spectator or the reader. Pity, for the undeserved sufferings of the hero and fear of the worst that may happen to him. The change of fortune should not be from bad to good, but reversely from good to bad. The unhappy ending is the only right ending for it is the most tragic in its effect. A happy ending may please us more, but it will not afford the true tragic pleasure aroused by the pity and fear it follows. Therefore, the events comprising the plots will concern only one man and not more. There are two ways in which the emotions may be aroused – by spectacular and more theatrical effects and by the inner structure of the plot. “For, the plot ought to be so constructed that even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place”.

    Peripeteia

    It is a deed done in blindness defeating its own purpose. Reversal of action or intention.

    Anagnorisis

    It is the recognition or discovery of truth, i.e., the discovery of the false moves taking in ignorance., i.e., change from ignorance to knowledge.

    There are 3 elements in a tragic plot which is titled as ‘Reversal Discovery and Calamity’ by Aristotle.

    • Reversal is a change from one to its opposite.
    • Discovery as the word itself indicates a discovery is a change from ignorance to knowledge and it leads either to love or to hatred between persons destined for good or ill fortune. The discovery of this kind with a reversal will carry with it either pity or fear
    • Suffering or calamity of these three, reversal and discovery are essentially related to the plot and action of the play and so is a calamity. A calamity is an action of a destructive or painful nature such as death openly represented, excessive suffering, wounding and the like.

    Main Parts of a Tragedy

    • Prologue – the whole part of a tragedy that precedes the parode, or the first entry of the chorus.
    • Episode – it is the whole of that part of a tragedy that comes between complete choral songs.
    • The Exode – it is the whole of that part of a tragedy which is not followed by a song of the chorus.
    • Chorus – is divided into parode (the first entry of the chorus) and stasimon which is a choral song

    Kinds of Tragedy

    Four kinds of a tragedy are – complex, suffering, character and spectacular.

    Tragic Hero

    Aristotle says, “good men should not be shown passing from prosperity to misery, for, this does not inspire fear or pity, it merely disgusts us”.

    “Nor should an evil man be shown progressing from misery to prosperity. This is the most untragic of all plots, for, it has none of the requisites of a tragedy; it does not appeal to our humanity or awake in pity or fear in us.”

    “Nor again should an utterly worthless man be seen falling from prosperity to misery. This may not arouse either pity or fear; for, our pity is awakened by undeserved misfortune, and our fear by that of someone just like ourselves – pity for the undeserving sufferer.”

    Ideal tragic hero – “there remains a mean between these two extremes. This is the sort of man who is not conspicuous for virtue and justice, and whose fall into misery is not due to vice and depravity but rather to some error”.

    Hamartia

    According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who falls from high state or fame not through the vice or depravity but by some great hamartia. It is an error of judgment.

    An ideal tragedy results from – human error, error on the part of friends and relatives, error on the part of the hero himself and the calamity due to the false move blindly made by a friend or kinsman or by himself.

    Characters of a Tragedy

    First and foremost is that the character should be good. Secondly, the place of portrayal should be appropriate. Thirdly, the characters should be lifelike. Fourthly, they should be consistent. The unraveling of the plot should arise from the circumstances of the plot. The dues ex machina should be used only for matters outside the play proper, either for things that happened before it and that cannot be known by the human characters, or things that are yet to come and that require to be foretold prophetically – for, we allow to the Gods the power to see all things.

    “Since tragedy is a representation of people who are better than the average, they must be presented well… in portraying men who are hot-tempered or phlegmatic or who have other defects of character, must bring out these qualities in them, and at the same time show them as decent people.”

    Different Kinds of Discovery

    The first is the least artistic and is mostly used from sheer lack of invention, this is discovery by means of visible science or tokens. The second class of discoveries is those which are manufactured by the poet and which are inartistic for that reason. The third kind of discovery is due to memory. The fourth kind is the result of reasoning. Of all the forms of discovery, the least is that which is brought about by the incidents themselves, even the startling disclosure results from events that are probable.

    Phallic Songs

    Are sung in honor of Dionysus, the God of fertility. Comedy represents men as worse than they are and ridicule the general vices. They are merely men of ugliness. By calling them worse, which Aristotle means that they are men with, “some defect which is not painful or destructive”. Its main function is to provoke laughter; no personal attacks and no kind of malicious pleasure is involved. It represents what has happened but what may happen.

    Aristotle’s Style of Writing

    He considers two things in the style of writing – clarity, and propriety (a suitable way of writing). The objective of writing is to communicate the meaning and must be intelligible. The same mode of writing cannot be used and for this propriety is important. For, intelligibility, current words can be used for the understanding of the people. In order to gain dignity and be stately, unfamiliar words can be used which will surprise the readers as well as gives a kind of novelty to the person. For poetry – compound words can be used, for an epic – rare and unfamiliar words can be used and for drama – metaphorical language that will be close to the everyday use by the people. A perfect poetic style uses words of all kinds in a judicious combination.

    Defects of Aristotle’s Poetics

    There are certain defects in Aristotle’s Poetics as it is fragmentary in nature. There is no proportionate discussion in it. He places a tragedy above an epic and has ignored the lyrical poetry and descriptive poetry. The effects of comedy and epic have been slightly treated and a larger part of the discussion is devoted to tragedy alone. The style is telegraphic and highly concentrated. There is often the signs of hesitation and uncertainty in the use of terminology. His theories are based exclusively on Greek poetry and drama.

  • Political and Cross-cultural Milieu

    Indian politics has its major roots on the invasion over it by many empires and imperial powers, the slavery under the British for more than two centuries in specific. The entry of East India Company was the root cause of the various political issues in India during the Mughal empire. And it resulted in the demolition of Indian cottage and small scale industries in order to develop the trade, making many Indians rising issues against British.

       Then started the political crises which invoked several writers to write about those political issues. Any political novel must possess both the form and content along with interpretation as to develop many portals as a part of dealing with various discussions and issues, like British colonisation, Partition of India and Pakistan, riots, numerous loss of lives, Opium Wars and slavery to mention a few.

       Starting from the earlier writers like Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Rao, R.K.Narayanan and Mulk Raj Anand, and the post- independence- Khushwanth Singh to the present writers. Manohar Malgonankar, Shashi Taroor and Amitav Ghosh talk about various aspects of political concepts in their novels, dealing with the reality of it.

        Khushwant Singh’s  Train to Pakistan depicts the trauma of  the victims of Partition. Since he belongs to a community who remained the victim of this cruel fate, he could easily  understand the pain of the people who have been prey to such issues.He has also participated as a villager in the events of Mano Majra, an imaginative peaceful abode of communal harmony but he has narrated the whole tragedy as a detached observer. He does not blame either British or any religion for it but regrets for such an evil occurrence that has taken away a lot of lives. He narrates the agony of the colonised people who were traumatised both physically and emotionally.

          Bankin Chandra Chaterje’s first Indian novel paved way for the hit Bollywood patriotic movie Anand Math, from which emerged the National song of India,”Vande Matharam”. In the later stage, came the novels of Rabindranath Tagore whose The Home and the World and The Wreck talk about a family being caught in the political turmoil during the freedom struggle. He gives more prominence to women characters who also had a major role in freedom fight of that period. Manohar Malgonkar in his A Bend in the Ganges creates a new perspective, talking about the Divide and Rule policy of the English thereby leading India to Partition. He depicts the aspects of political reality into the novel which prevented India from developing any further.

          Shashi Tharoor in his novel The Great Indian Novel has adopted the story of the Indian legend Mahabaraha through which he satirises the political condition of the present  era. Though Mahabaratha belongs to early ages, the politics covered in it proves that political issues prevail even from earlier ages.

          Amitav Ghosh in his novel The Shadow Lines has taken the concept of Partition of India and its victims, politics being played upon them and it’s brutality over its own people more than anything else. He does not give more space to the families belonging to each region and country and explains the agony they suffer due to political turmoils, in which even the people who desperately wanted to take part in freedom struggle have lost faith and passion for country. They fail to be patriotic further, as they happened to lose their beloved ones in riots in an unfaithful manner and for invalid reasons and causes. R.K Narayan’s Waiting for Mahatma deals with a distinct aspect of the fall-out of the Partition where it is stressed that ‘making of a country is not as important as that of making  humanity’. When India got its independence, some people were caught in riots, losing their lives and many children were orphaned. Such pressures and agonies forced some writers to deal with the Partition of India in their works.

          These novels can be considered as the factual and unofficial documents recording the plights of people – physically and emotionally, making the novels more than a historical novel. These novelists feel that political issues are responsible for human destruction all across the world. Such an approach is considered objective by the author and the audience in recording the background politics as major themes in their works.