Vol. I, No. 8.] The People of Mungeli Tahsil. 195 
[N. S.] 
While distributing food to the guests the Ashariya mixed with the 
food a good portion of his own deadly poison, which up to that time 
he alone had possessed. The cobra and the scorpions andall 
other stinging insects received as much poison as was contained 
in the foed of which they partook. Hence the various degrees in 
the poison of snakes. The Ashariy& in consequence had only a 
little poison left, and so it is poisonous only in the month 
of Ashar. It is said that traders in cattle and those who 
have to do_with the breaking in of cattle keep a piece of the 
tail of the Ashariya by them. If the tail of this snake is pushed 
up the nostril of a refractory animal (a bullock or a buffalo) the 
animal will immediately become manageable and submissive. 
There is still another snake which holds an important place in the 
folklore of the district. This is locally known as the “ Murari 
sap.” I cannot supply the scientific name, but it belongs to the 
family of earth-snakes, which burrow underground and come to the 
surface only occasionally. It is not much more than eight inches 
in length, thick and of much the same dimension from end to end, 
On account of the similar appearance of head and tail, it is some- 
times said to have two heads. For six months it goes one way, 
and for six months the other. On being touched this snake 
has a way of curling around inacircular from. This may account 
for the name (murnd means to twist), and it certainly accounts for 
the popular belief that it is the greatest enemy of the larger 
snakes, for it will twist itself around them till they are strangled. 
But the most common belief with regard to the Murari is that it 
will attach itself to a woman’s breast and draw away her milk 
while she sleeps. The snake, it is said, will place its tail in the 
child’s mouth and thus soothe the child while drawing away the 
milk for its own nourishment. Women hold this snake in special 
abhorrence. 
While speaking with a man concerning the Murarz, he told me 
that only recently he had killed this snake in the house of a 
neighbour, and he had found a quantity of milk inits maw. On my 
expressing my doubt he went on to explain that his neighbour’s wife 
had a child which had lost flesh for some time past. The reason 
given was that the snake was taking the woman’s milk while the 
child was starving. Now that the snake had been destroyed, the 
child was gaining flesh and improving in health. If a Murari is 
found in the fields, it is taken up ona stick and thrown towards 
the sun. This is called swray dekhana@ (shown the sun). It is 
thrown high up in the air and is killed as a result of the fall. The 
snake charmers also informed me that at the Hariyalz festival, it is 
their practice to go out inthe fields and burn hom (sacrifice) at the 
roots of the trees or herbs which are employed as antidotes to snake 
poison. It is at this festival also that they lay in a stock of anti- 
dotal herbs for use during the coming year. 
76. A Love Portion called Hathajori.—The Gond women who 
go around tle Tehsil in the winter months tattooing and selling 
herbs and roots with medicinal properties, also have with them a 
herb known as hathajori, which may be roughly translated hands 
