The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s7.44

v1.c19.s7.44

Direct worship is clear in the homage paid to the snakes at the beginning and the end of the rains when they are specially dangerous.⁸ Of this there is no trace whatever in the Rigveda: the only deity, as opposed to demon, is Ahi Budhnya and that his snake character was real, and not mere theriomorphism, is not suggested by anything we know of that deity. The demon Vṛtra was not a snake, but a natural phenomenon in origin, and the Rigveda does not propitiate him. But in the later Saṁhitās we do find the apotropaeic worship of the snakes set on a level with that of such beings as the Gandharvas. They are stated to be in earth, air, and heaven, and in one hymn of the Atharvaveda,⁹ which knows snake deities well, some individual snakes may be referred to. In the Sūtras offerings are prescribed for the snakes of the three regions,¹ they are washed, combed, presented with collyrium, ointment and garlands, and duly fed ;² they receive offerings along with gods, plants, and demons, and blood is poured out for them,³ a fact which brings them into conjunction with Rudra. It is only reasonable to recognize in this direct worship of the terrible snake, which is thus propitiated and honoured in the hope that it will stay away from the houses of those who show it respect. The feeling is common in modern India, and is a good case of a propitiation due to terror and awe rather than to loving admiration. It is possible that the mention of snakes of the air and the sky may have been aided by the conception of the snake Vṛtra, but it may be due merely to the formalism of the ritual, and the constant tendency to spread every power over the three parts of the universe. Several names of great snakes are known to us, e. g. Takṣaka, and Arbuda Kādraveya is at once a snake-priest and a snake-king.