Note 42 — Chapter VII · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.

In the Deccan a person suffering from snakebite is taken to a village temple, and the ministrant is requested to give him holy water. The deity is also invoked. Thus keeping the person for one night in the temple, he is carried to his house the following day if cured. The vows made to the deity for the recovery of the person are then fulfilled. There is one turabat, a tomb of Avalia a Mahomedan saint, at Panhála where persons suffering from snakebite are made to sit near the tomb, and it is said that they are cured. In some villages there are enchanted trees of Kadulimb where persons placed under the shade of such trees are cured of snakebites. Some people tie a stone round the neck of the sufferer as soon as he is better, repeating the words Adi Gudi Imám the name of a Mahomedan saint. After recovery from snakebite the person is taken to the mosque of the Adi Gudi Imám Sáheb, where the stone is untied before the tomb, and jágri equal to the weight of the stone is offered. A feast is also given to the Mujáwar or ministrant of the mosque. There is at present a famous enchanter—Mántrika—at Satára who cures persons suffering from snakebite. It is said that he throws charmed water on the body of the sufferer, and in a few minutes the snake begins to speak through the victim. The sorcerer enquires what the snake wants. The snake gives reasons for biting the person. When any thing thus asked for by the snake is offered, the victim comes to his senses, and is cured. There are many witnesses to the above fact.42