Captain James Low on Bupp Ma and the Phrabdt. 97 
In the Siamese representations of the ten states of existence of Bupp Ma, 
previous to his last appearance, Rasa Naca is represented climbing up or 
twisting round a pyramid of earth, emblematical of Siva and the Linga. 
The King of Snakes and Inpra are great agents in Siamese mythology ; 
and also in history, when any great event is to receive the embellishments 
of fiction. The former is stated, in the Siamese history of Ligor, to have 
been one of the means of inducing Tampasukkarat, prince of Awadi, to 
settle and people that country. Bddan (Patala) is his residence. Accord- 
ing to Wilford he lived in Chaciagiri. Naga signifies either a mountain 
snake, or an elephant.* 
* In Lieut.-Colonel Francklin’s interesting researches on the Jeynes and Booddhists, published 
since the foregoing remarks were written, he has given an interesting account of the Serpent 
Worship. He observes, that it was mixed with the Jewish ordinances; that the dragon, or 
great serpent, was worshipped in Babylon, in the reign of Cyrus, as recorded in the Apocrypha. 
Bryant observes that, in the orgies of Bacchus, the persons who performed the ceremony carried 
serpents in their hands, calling with horrid screams upon Eva, or theSerpent. THErmuTIs, or 
Os-ous, or BAstLevs, was the royal serpent of Egypt. The Cuthites had always some legends 
of a serpent. At Colchis, Thebes, and Delphi, the same worship prevailed. The serpent, 
according to Montfaucon, was a symbol of the sun: and Eusebius has observed that a serpent 
within a circle, touching it at the two opposite extremes, signifies the good genius, the Eudaimon 
of the Greeks. Vossius, in his 63d chapter, on Pagan Idolatry, details the origin of the serpent 
worship, affirming that it commenced in Chaldea. Pythagoras brought the worship from Egypt 
to Greece, and thence it passed into Italy. The serpentine pillar of the Hippodrome, and the 
temple at Delphi, were erected in honour of Aporto, in commemoration of his victory over the 
great serpent Pyruoy. Esculapius, the Grecian god of physic, has a serpent emblem amongst 
his attributes. 
In Persia, ZoROASTER, or ZERDUSHT, is represented as girded by a serpent: and in one hand 
of the figure, which represents the planet Saturn, is the serpent. 
In India the serpent Vasuxa, whom the Surs and Assurs used as a rope in churning the 
ocean, is too well known to need description. 
In the time of PAusANTAS a statue of M1nERVa was to be seen at Argos made of marble, and 
which exhibited two serpents unfolded at her feet, and protected by her shield. 
Colonel F. further notices that the serpent worship prevailed in Russia, and other northern na- 
tions, and also in Mexico and Peru. Faber describes the Vitzliputuli, or deity of Mexico, as holding 
in his right hand a staff, cut in form of a serpent; while the four corners of the Mexican ark 
terminated in carved representations of serpents’ heads. Here also was the Cihnacohuatziti, or 
“ woman of our flesh,” who was represented with a great serpent. The Evil Being of the Goths 
is said to have had two children, Death and an immense serpent; the latter of which winded 
himself round the whole globe of the earth. The Goths were a branch of the Cuthites, who came 
from the Indian Caucasus ; and Tuor, or Woven, is the Bupp,ua of India, the great father 
Von. III. O 
