In Support of Serpents

Snakes! the proverbial enemies of humanity from the time of the first parents, Adam and Eve, there is hardly any who would say something in support of these animals. They are a cursed lot, already from the time of the genesis, and they are still so, except for a few minor religious sects who have taken shelter with snakes as their deity, as is the case with Manasa Devi in Bengal, and Naga Devadai in the southern India. But that does not stop the snakes from harming even the very people who worship them as deities! It has gone deep into human mind that snakes cannot be allowed to live!

We are taught already from our childhood that snakes are evil, and they are all poisonous. They cannot be allowed to prawl around in our gardens and fields, but they should be killed on the spot! We may even allow our enemies to escape our beating, but cannot allow snakes from escaping, leave alone letting them run away peacefully! Much of our understanding about snakes is faulty and erroneous; and quite a bit of it is based on prejudice. We cannot think that the snakes also have the same right to live on earth as any of us is! We often claim that the earth belonged to us, and not to these, and so they can be dispensed with without any hesitation.

It is basically ignorance which make us conclude that all snakes are poisonous; even the harmless grass-snake are killed at the very first sight, and we have great pride in proclaiming to the whole world that we had killed a very poisonous snake! One of the environmentalists had recently announced that out of all the snakes commonly found in India, only two varies are really poisonous and so are fatal, and most others are not poisonous. They may bite others, but people cannot die due to poison. There may not be too many people who would bite this idea, even if it is based on facts and scientific data.

I have heard several stories in our village, where people had died due to snake bite, and have also heard about those men and women who recovered after snake bite! But generally the stories of the people who have succumbed to poisonous snakes had been doing extra rounds than those who had recovered from such a bite. Now the point I would like to propose is that it is time that we think twice before we look for sticks and rods to kill snakes. It is said that snakes would not deliberately harm anyone; until they are provoked, they would mind their own business! After all, they are not after human blood!

If the human race claims a rightful place on earth, then the snakes too have a rightful place here, and the fact is that these creatures are more friendly to the earth and the universe than humanity! It is time that we stop condemning all snakes as poisonous and kill them instantly. The number of snakes in our villages and gardens and fields have reduced considerably. If this situation were to continue, then after some years, we may not have any real snake to show to our children; the snakes might have then become like what dinausours are for us today. Let us give the snakes their rightful place on earth, and they too would honor us for that act of charity and kindness!