Sunil.Rajguru's World

No matter how much scientific progress India makes, in every village there’s a legend that defies rational explanation.

There’s no proof but only the testimony of the people who have witnessed the miracle.

My father once took me to a small temple a few kilometres from our village. After we had finished praying, I noticed a small silver statue of a snake next to the entrance. That’s a pretty unusual sight.

It had an interesting story behind it.

Many years back a holy man or baba used to preach the word of god to the people in the area. One day, he promised a gathering that he would address them near the above-mentioned temple.

It was evening time. The crowd waited for the baba. And they waited and waited till the night. It was surprising because it was the first time that such a thing had happened.

The next day the baba’s body was found at a distance from the temple. The police came to the conclusion that he was waylaid by robbers who killed him.

The disciples gathered near the temple shell-shocked in mourning for their beloved baba.

As they remembered him fondly, one of them suddenly said, “But baba never broke a single promise in his life!”

Another added, “Do you know that at the exact time he was to come, I saw a snake. It came, stopped and seemed to look at us and quietly went. I found that a bit odd!”

A third surmised, “Then baba, who had died by then, took the form of a snake just to keep his promise!”

A local businessman listened to all of this quietly. After a few days, he had a small Silver Snake made. He got it fixed near the entrance of the temple. Everyone thought that it was a good idea.

The story would have ended there, but after some time, a person was bitten by a poisonous snake. In many rural areas in India, anti-venom may not be easily accessible, hence there are no chances of surviving. Someone from the village remembered the Silver Snake and suggested that they take the victim there.

They offered a prayer to the Silver Snake and lighted a lamp. The victim got up, walked a distance and vomited. He was totally fine after that. The story spread and soon all snake-bite victims found their way there. They would either vomit out the poison, or take a leak or feel like going and the poison would miraculously leave the body in that fashion.

Sounds crazy, but many people owe their lives to it!

All this would have been just a story had it not affected my relatives.

One day my uncle returned from the fields in the evening and looked like he had seen a ghost. Everyone asked him what had happened, but he refused to speak. He sat on his bed and smiled all the while keeping silent.

He suddenly started wishing everyone goodbye and lay down on the bed. Someone noticed that he had a snake bite. My uncle, who is an expert in the plant and animal life of the area, declared that he had been bitten by a Krait, which is highly poisonous, and so he had no chance of surviving.

Everyone immediately lifted him up and placed him in a bullock cart and took him to the temple of the Silver Snake. It was night by then and my uncle was unconscious. After the puja was performed, he regained consciousness early in the morning, freshened himself and was cured.

He is hale and hearty to this present day!

A holy man dies… someone makes a silver statue… and people get miraculously cured of poisonous snake bites defying the laws of science…

It happens only in India!

© Sunil Rajguru