We are of one blood
Snake charmers can be found in India on almost every street. And if foreign tourists find it difficult to imagine the former USSR without matryoshka dolls and samovars, snake charmers are considered an integral part of Indian color. Armed with homemade pipes with a large resonator made of dried pumpkin, they sit for a long time over wicker baskets waiting for tourists.
To the beat of a simple melody, trained snakes raise their heads from baskets, hiss menacingly and sway their hoods. Each charmer has his own techniques for working with deadly creatures, known only to him. He carefully guards the secrets of the craft and passes them on to his sons. However, Indians do not consider snake training a profession; for them it is a way of life.
During a trip to India, a correspondent for Itogi visited a village of snake charmers. This is how the name of the village of Saperagaon, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is translated from Hindi. Here, in the Indian hinterland, live people who master this exotic and dangerous craft. The entire population of the village knows how to handle snakes. A young housewife pours water on the floor from a copper jug, while a two-meter cobra lies curled up at her feet. An elderly woman prepares dinner and grumblingly shakes a viper tangled in her sari. Instead of stuffed toys, local children take a cobra to their beds. Each family keeps four or five snakes of various species. The pets of the fakirs are quite diverse – from the king cobra to the python.
In addition to the intricacies of snake training, the residents of Saperagaon learn the basics of catching creeping reptiles. Even for experienced charmers, this remains one of the most difficult and dangerous tasks. Catching a snake requires patience and special skills. The village elders say that without a certain luck and heightened intuition, a successful hunt will not take place. Highly qualified catchers in the village can be counted on one hand.
A snake catcher enjoys special respect and receives an honorable status. Over time, when his authority becomes indisputable, he stops going out into the street with a basket and a pipe. Usually this village character is surrounded by various myths and an aura of mystery. It is said that the great master possesses some secret knowledge given to him by the gods. He supposedly charms snakes, and they obediently crawl into his basket. Becoming his apprentice is practically impossible.
In general, the residents of Saperagaon are very jealous of the secrets of their craft, and when the conversation turns to the details of catching snakes, they change the subject. Perhaps the charmers have known since childhood the mysterious phrase with which Mowgli in Kipling's "The Jungle Book" won the respect of the old python. "We are of one blood," said the dweller of the jungle.
Did you call a snake charmer?
However, the market situation is relentless. As it turned out, this ancient profession has fallen into the category of dying ones. The average earnings of a snake charmer are small – 30-40 rupees a day. The money is barely enough to feed his family and his crawling pets. In addition, almost all people involved in charming suffer from severe lung diseases. Doctors say that the diseases are acquired as a result of excessive strain on the lungs when playing the wind instrument and quickly progress in a humid climate. Recently, the younger generation is not eager to follow in their fathers' footsteps and is moving away from the family business.
Therefore, charmers often repurpose their business and create small companies that catch snakes in large cities. Or they join government agencies, such as the rescue service, where they recall the lessons of village elders, among which the theory of snake catching was considered one of the main disciplines. After all, India is the country with the highest death rate from snake venom in the world. According to official statistics, more than a quarter of a million people suffer from snake bites every year in the country, of whom 75,000 die. This is thirty times higher than the number of victims of tigers, leopards, panthers and other predatory animals combined. The sad record for the number of deaths from snake bites is held by the states of West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The most dangerous of the snakes – the one preferred by charmers – is the cobra. Its venom begins to act a few minutes after the bite – a person suddenly becomes drowsy. Then speech is impaired, consciousness becomes clouded, paralysis of the respiratory muscles occurs – and death ensues.
Bites of the krait, the coral snake and a small green viper living in the northeastern states also often lead to death. A corresponding vaccine has been developed against the venom of each of these snakes, but it is not always possible to use it in time. Moreover, of the 216 species of snakes found in India, 52 are venomous, and even the most prudent Indian does not carry that many vaccines with him. So all that remains is to rely on the mercy of the gods and one's own caution.
Today, in Indian telephone directories and among newspaper advertisements, you can find numbers of services specializing in catching venomous snakes. Many former charmers have joined the staff of these services. However, why former? They remain charmers, only now they have switched to state support. The snake masters have temporarily put aside their pipes and catch the reptiles with the help of a split bamboo stick, take them outside the city limits and release them into the wild. Many hope that such a peculiar reincarnation of the ancient profession will benefit the charmers, and the new qualification of "charmer-rescuer" will make it in demand.
Dmitry SERKOV,
Valery KASHIN.