Burmese
snake charmer
Saya Hnin-Mahla kissing one of her king cobra co-performers (public domain)
Since time
immemorial, humans have been irresistibly fascinated by snakes - but most
especially by cobras, nurturing an innate, inexplicable desire for close interaction,
and even intimacy, with these large, highly venomous, and ostensibly imperious
entities. This arcane aspiration has attained expression by all manner of
different means - including fear-infiltrated veneration and handling by
acolytes of Indian snake cults that perceived cobras as reincarnations of
bygone leaders and referred to them as nagas; the fragile balance of respect
and control achieved in authentic cobra charming; and even highly-emotive
displays of devoted, unreserved love for the regal reptiles that are fervently
believed by many to bestow blessings upon their homes and lives.
Yet for many
Westerners, cobra cults and other manifestations of humankind's mystical
inter-relationship with these serpents are totally alien concepts - exhibiting
facets of human and reptilian behaviour that seemingly transcend traditional
explanation or rationalisation. And none is more dramatic, or potentially
deadly, than the cult of the king cobra Ophiophagus hannah, a truly spectacular
species native to forests in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and southern East Asia.
Colour
engraving of king cobra from 1874 (public domain)
As thick as a
man's arm and sheathed in olive-green scales imparting a deep, velvet-like
sheen, coupled with a superimposed series of pale-yellow cross-bands down its
body's length and more distinct ones upon its neck, the king cobra is the world's
longest species of venomous snake, boasting a very impressive total length of
up to 18.5 ft, and with a
head that can be the size of a small dog's. It is also one of the most deadly,
and most aggressive, snakes – so much so, in fact, that the preferred diet of
this most macho of mega-serpents is other snakes (its generic name, Ophiophagus,
translates as 'snake-eater').
The
head of an adult king cobra can be the size of a small dog's (public domain)
So even
the merest thought of physical contact with so daunting a creature, let alone
intimate veneration of it as a reptilian deity, is not for the faint-hearted. And
yet, as now revealed in this ShukerNature blog article, examples of such
intimacy are indeed documented – whether or not they are explicable, however,
is another matter entirely!
THE SERPENT GOD
AND THE SNAKE PRIESTESS
One particularly
dramatic case, recorded in his book On Safari (1963), was witnessed by
no less an authority than Armand Denis, the pioneering wildlife film-maker and
author. In 1939, during a filming expedition to the Far East, Denis was in
northern Burma (now Myanmar), investigating
whether ophiolatreia (snake worship) was still practised there, when he met an
old Buddhist priest who told him to travel to a remote mountainous village,
where he would be shown all that he hoped to see - and more! Two days later,
Denis had arrived, and the next morning he found himself sitting in a
flower-decorated oxcart alongside the village's snake priestess, a beautiful young
woman in her early 30s, at the head of a procession containing most of the
other villagers, who were bearing gifts for the serpent-god and providing
enthusiastic musical accompaniment with an ample supply of bells and gongs.
On
Safari (© Armand Denis/Fontana Books)
After a sedate
journey along a winding mountain path, Denis and company finally neared a small
cave, the journey's destination. Quite a while later, during which time the
villagers had busied themselves strewing assorted offerings to the serpent god
on either side of the path leading to the cave, the snake priestess walked
steadily towards the cave's opening, accompanied for part of the way by Denis.
At the opening the priestess paused, and called into it. A few minutes later an
enormous snake emerged, and coiled itself at her feet. It was a cobra - but no
ordinary one, for this was nothing less than an adult king cobra.
Even as the
priestess stood there, absolutely motionless, the huge snake rose up with hood
outstretched, standing erect and poised to strike. Able to hold itself 3
ft or more above the ground, and positioned less than 4
ft away from her, it was well within range. Yet in answer to the
cobra's challenge, the priestess merely bowed her head towards it, slowly,
deferentially, and seemingly without fear. Responding immediately, the snake
lunged forward, striking at the level of her knees, but in the same instant the
woman had moved slightly to one side, so that the cobra's deadly fangs made
harmless contact with the fabric of her pure-white skirt. This macabre dance of
would-be death between snake and woman, or deity and priestess, was repeated
many times, and on each occasion the woman succeeded in avoiding the powerful
reptile's fatal fangs - recalling a skilful matador deflecting the terrible
horns of a charging bull, but equipped with a skirt of snow rather than a cloak
of crimson.
Mounted
specimen of king cobra at the Royal Ontario Museum (©
Hectonichus/Wikipedia)
Suddenly,
however, the snake priestess's performance reached its particular climax in a
manner never mirrored by that of any matador. With her hands placed behind her
back, she moved a little closer to her lethal god, and during a moment when it
remained erect but immobile she leaned forward and lightly kissed the king
cobra on top of its head! Drawing back instantaneously, she countered the
inevitable strike that ensued, after which she promptly kissed the cobra again,
and, after deflecting its consequent lunge, kissed it a third time too. The
ceremony thus concluded, she simply turned her back on the cobra, and walked
away, slowly but apparently untroubled, towards Denis and the waiting
villagers. Nor was her confidence betrayed by the cobra - instead of striking
her from behind, it merely turned aside and slid swiftly from sight into its
cave.
If, during the
journey back to the village, Denis had suspected that he had been
hallucinating, and that this astonishing ritual had never happened, one could
surely have forgiven him, for it certainly seems almost beyond belief that such
a performance could ever take place. However, he had conclusive evidence for
its reality right before his eyes. Clearly visible on the woman's white skirt
were many damp, amber-hued stains - the potent venom of a king cobra, the
legacy of her audience with her ophidian deity.
A
Burmese snake priestess kissing a king cobra on its mouth! (public domain)
This astonishing
performance has been witnessed over the years by other Western observers too. Moreover,
Dr Desmond Morris’s book Men and Snakes (1965) reports an even more
incredible variation on its macabre theme – in which the snake priestess kisses
the king cobra not on top of its head but directly on its mouth! This terrifying
deed was also regularly performed by top Burmese snake charmer Saya Hnin-Mahla as the climax of her act with her
co-performer, an adult king cobra (see the photograph opening this present
ShukerNature blog article).
SPITTING IN THE
FACE OF DANGER – LITERALLY!
Narrating a
selection of his varied wildlife experiences on an LP record (again entitled On
Safari), Armand Denis recalled a second, no less extraordinary encounter
that he had witnessed between king cobra and human. Just before World War II,
Denis was in Singapore on a filming assignment, and in order to complete the
wildlife film that he had been working upon he advertised locally for a number
of king cobras, a common species in that area. Eventually, he received about a
dozen, all adult and extremely belligerent, which he maintained in a
securely-fastened crate with a fine wire-netting top, whose mesh they profusely
drenched with their potent venom as they struck at it repeatedly in their fury
at finding themselves held captive in this manner.
On
Safari LP (© Armand and Michaela Denis/Pye Records)
One day, a young
Chinese boy, dressed in a strange white garb with deep sleeves, arrived at
Denis's hotel, and gravely volunteered his services to Denis as a
snake-handler, provided that Denis would give him one of the king cobras at the
end of the filming sessions. Although he naturally doubted the boy's capability
to handle such dangerous snakes as these in safety, Denis was sufficiently
intrigued by his serious demeanour and outlandish offer to allow him to take a
look at the cobras, while they writhed irritably but impotently within the
confines of their locked crate. The boy soon focused his attention upon one
especially large and aggressive specimen, which he considered to be very
beautiful, and which, he assured Denis, he would have no problem in handling.
Needless to say, Denis swiftly reminded him that this was a lethal creature
that no-one would dare to handle in its current, highly emotional state; not
until it had quietened down during several days of captivity could it be
considered in any way safe to deal with, and only then for filming purposes.
A
captive adult king cobra (© Enygmatic-Halcyon/Wikipedia)
The boy merely
smiled, however, and asserted confidently that it would be very easy for him to
handle it now - straight away - and in complete safety. He then began to prise
up one corner of the crate, and Denis, very much alarmed, implored him to leave
the snake alone. In response, the boy paused, and withdrew from the folds of
one of his long sleeves a small vial of strange green liquid, which, when
uncorked, released a fragrance vaguely reminiscent of freshly-cut grass. He
poured some of this into his mouth, and then leaned down to the crate, until
his face was well within the cobra's striking range. Hardly daring to look,
Denis could only stand and await the inevitable, instantaneous strike that
would swiftly bring death to this foolish child. Instead, it was the boy who
acted first, and in a very unexpected manner.
Leaning even
closer to the crate, he suddenly spat the liquid out of his mouth, spraying it
liberally all over the face, head, and body of his chosen cobra! The boy waited
for about a minute, and then - to Denis's even greater surprise, and absolute
horror! - he casually reached into the crate and lifted the cobra out, his
hands around the middle of its body's great length, holding this huge deadly
serpent with no more concern than any other child might display when holding a
length of cord or a skipping rope. By some uncanny means, the green liquid
appeared to have rendered the cobra almost totally passive; true, it reared its
ebony-scaled, fist-sized head upwards to gaze evenly at its young captor, but
it made no attempt to strike at him.
After a time,
the boy placed the cobra back into the crate, bowed solemnly to a
still-stupefied Denis, and walked out of his room, promising to come back the
following morning, and handle all of the cobras in the crate - but he did not
return, and Denis never saw his mysterious visitor again.
Vintage
photograph of snake charmers with adult king cobras (public domain)
When asked
during an interview with a British newspaper some years ago to disclose the
secret of successful snake training, Yogi Raj Bengali, one of the world's most
celebrated snake charmers, merely smiled, and stated that although some do
become accustomed to a certain touch and are quite placid, for the most part
snakes cannot be trained; they simply do whatever they want to do.
Bearing in mind
that these are the words of an expert in the handling of potentially lethal
snakes, it seems safe to assume that the mystical links between king cobras and
their contemporary human courtiers have far from vanished, and that there is
much still to be comprehended in this most perilous but potent of partnerships.
This ShukerNature blog article is excerpted and expanded from my
book Extraordinary Animals Revisited: From Singing Dogs to Serpent Kings.
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