Snakes in Tradition. 73 



creation awes," is a reptile worthy of homage, and may be 

 accepted without hesitation and in defiance of all sea- 

 serpents, past and future, as the greatest snake on record. 

 When Vishnu and the gods meet to extort from the sea the 

 ichor of immortality, they pluck up from the Himalayan 

 range the biggest mountain in it, and this they make their 

 churn, while around it, as the strongest tackle they could 

 think of, they bound the serpent Shesh. And the gods 

 took hold of the head, and the devils took hold of the tail, 

 and, alternately tugging, they made the mountain spin round 

 and round, until the sea was churned into froth, and from 

 the churning came up all the treasures of the deep, and the 

 most precious possessions of man, and last of all Immortality. 

 The gods and the devils scrambled for all the good things, 

 but nothing more is said of the serpent who had been 

 so useful, nor what he got for his services. Antiquaries 

 in the West incline to think that he remained in the sea 

 and became the kraken ; but the Nagas believe him to 

 be still under the hills dispensing fate by the light of a 

 diamond. 



When, too, Lakshmi fixes her admiring eyes upon "the 

 azure Hari," he started at the summons of love : 



" Straight o'er the deep, then dimpling smooth, he rushed, 

 And towards th' unmeasured snake's stupendous bed 

 The world's great mother, not reluctant, led. 

 All Nature glow'd whene'er she smiled or blushed ; 



The king of serpents hushed 



His thousand heads, where diamond mirrors blazed 

 That multiplied her image as he gazed." 



To these succeed a procession of the "serpents of 

 Romance," " sleepless and stern to guard the golden sight ; " 

 the great reptiles of knightly story. Southey's " Romance's 

 serpent winds the glittering fold." Of the victories of the 

 chivalrous over these baleful monsters there is no end : 



