Note 138 — Chapter II · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Reading edition
The references to the snake in folk-lore and popular belief are so numerous that only a few examples can be given. The Dhâman (Ptyas mucosus), a quite harmless snake, is said in Bombay to give a fatal bite on Sundays, and to kill cattle by crawling under them, or putting its tail up their nostrils. Its shadow is also considered malignant. It is believed to suck the milk of cattle, and that if a buffalo is looked on by it, it immediately dies. Of the Ghonas snake it is believed that it bites only at night, and at whatever hour of the night the victim is bitten, he dies just before daybreak.138