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Right defense against snakes? www.jantoo.com |
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Snake Village-Shetphal, Maharashtra www.travelassistant.in |
India, for centuries has often been referred to as the '‘land of snake charmers. For the westerners, when you make a reference to India, immediately India's famous snake charmers come to their mind first and their unorganized road shows before the medley, jumbled crowd on the side walks of Indian towns.The foreigners do not realize that now India is the 4th largest economy in the world. Further, centuries ago, long before the arrival of Europeans, the standard of living of the Indians was fairly better than many European nations. However, people were steeped in old traditions and values, besides being superstitious.The Indian economy nosedived when the British had become masters of the Indian subcontinent and their exploitation of Indian lands and natives continued unabated.
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snake charmer and Indian IT charmer. www.jantoo.com |
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snakes as if they were pet dogs. The snakes also visit the schools here and sit in the class rooms among the students who don't show any sign of fear!! Is it not a spooky village? May be for us, not for them. Really gutsy people.
If you ever buy a house in this village and settle down, be prepared; these poisonous creatures will drop in on you for
a cup of milk (and may be an egg or two) and be your companions at night. Perhaps, you may lose your sleep over them if they come and hiss at you with a raised hood! If you don't feel comfortable, buy a six pack and lie down on the cot. They won't ever bug you.
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Snake stone images in a Hindu temple. wordspress.com |
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Snake stone images in a Hindu temple. cd8d4076.com |
There is a famous snake temple at Haripad, in Alappuzha district of Kerala, S. India. It is very ancient and internationally known center of pilgrimage for the devotees of serpent gods (Nagaraja). It is believed to be over 3,000 years old and has 30,000 snake figures carved out of stone. Childless couples make a pilgrimage here seeking fertility. Upon the birth of a child, they make a trip to this place with a new a stone image of the snake and conduct thanksgiving ceremonies. A special turmeric powder, which has curative power, is given to the visitors as prasad. A lot of people visit this temple every day.
Ref:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetpal
Snake worship in India, www.indiamike.com