SERPENT WORSHIP, 'CHARMING; ETC. 511 



among the low-caste Hindoos, is borne out by all modern 

 writers on the native faiths or customs. A. K. Forbes in his 

 Hindoo Annals, or Rds Mala, tells us that cobras are 

 looked upon as guardian angels. One cobra ' guarded ' a 

 cave in which treasures were deposited ; another cobra 

 * guarded ' a garden ; and very good guards we should say 

 they were, as few persons would venture too near to such an 

 ' angel.' One of the supposed ' Divinities ' is the Poorivug 

 Dev, or spirit personified by a snake, which is not allowed to 

 be killed or injured ; and if it bite a person, that individual 

 is supposed to be justly punished for some fault. Fatalism 

 forbids any attempt to cure that unhappy victim, and he 

 swells the annual death-rate. Due honours are paid to 

 these ' guardian angels' found in most hamlets. Periodical 

 festivals are held to them : their retreats are then garlanded 

 with flowers, and, as already stated, eggs and milk are 

 placed as propitiatory offerings. One of the Bengalese 

 traditions is, that a male infant auspiciously shaded by a 

 cobra will come to the throne. 



And is the reptile which brings such distinction and 

 honour into a family to be ruthlessly destroyed ? ' No 

 Hindoo will willingly kill a cobra,' Colonel Meadows Taylor 

 tells us, in his People of India. Should one be killed 

 accidentally within the precincts of a guarded village, a 

 piece of copper money is put into its mouth, and the 

 body is burned with offerings to avert the anticipated 

 evil. The najas, or hooded snakes, from their habit of 

 erecting themselves on the approach of persons, are those 

 especially regarded as guardians. It was the same in 

 Egypt. In the najas are also supposed to dwell the spirits 



