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tail. One of the side stones is sculptured with the figure of 

 the sesha, a five or seven-headed cobra (a representative of 

 Ananden) the other bears the twin-serpents of Mercury's 

 caduceus. On one of these figures, generally in the upper- 

 most of the rings formed by the entwined pair of snakes, is 

 the lingayoni, the combined generative emblem of both 

 sexes; and in another ring is a radiated circle which, I 

 imagine, represents a cluster of snake's eggs.* 



The legends on the subject of snakes, especially the naga, 

 are endless ; the following basilisk-myth which I gathered 

 in Malabar, is an example out of a number. 



When a cobra finds a pot of gold (the naga demons are 

 guardians of under ground treasures) he lies down on it and 

 guards it ; the gold shrinks, and after many years concen- 

 trates itself into dust and a single luminous gem of immense 

 value called the mdnikkum. By this time the cobra has 

 also shrunk to a small size, he takes the mdnikkum in his 

 mouth and flies away to bathe, his track being shown by the 

 radiance of the gem. Shooting stars are thus accounted 

 for. He goes to bathe in the north-sea. It is considered 

 unlucky to see him flying North, but lucky to see him 

 returninor from that direction. 



o 



Sometimes this cobra is killed for the sake of the mdnik- 

 ku7)i. To ascertain the value of the gem, gold is poured 

 over it ; it floats on the surface of the gold until its full 

 value has been poured; it then sinks. 



Some of the stories told about the sand-snakes Gongylo- 

 phis conicus and Eryx johnii appear to be connected with 

 a solar myth. These stories originate in the old idea of 



* Compare de Gubernatis on the reverence in which snakes are 

 still held in some parts of Germany as domestic guardian genii, 

 bestowing welfare and fruitfulness on the family, especially its 

 female members. 



9-^ 



