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Press x6: Problem continues in 2006

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Posted by: W von Papineäu at Sat Sep 23 13:07:32 2006  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by W von Papineäu ]  
   

Unfortunately, the problem of feeding milk to snakes (cobras) continue to current times and shows no real potential for disappearing in the near future. Please don’t take my mistake of not posting the current items first as a sign that the problem was going away. Usually, when I do archive research, I start with the oldest items … but I had gathered so many items that I was concerned that I would overstay my welcome within the forum … so I cut it at 2000. There’s LOTS more on this specific subject … most are variations on a theme. But still, from time-to-time, you do get an interesting variation on cobras and milk! (Zimbabwe press follows). Respects all, Wes

= = = = =

CENTRAL CHRONICLE (Bhopal, India) 04 August 06 Awareness on snakes must
24 years later, I find myself remembering the nostalgic memories of Nag Panchmi, when I was fed with ghost-filled stories of snakes by my grandma. I was fairly obsessed with the tales of great pythons and cobras long before I ever saw the first real snake. After all, Hindu mythology is full of snakes!
These are creeping reptiles acting as a boon for farmers by eating away all the crop pests during the harvesting season. Recently there has been a great decline in the population of snakes in Central Asia. The inevitable reasons being for their venom ie aor antivenom preparation, for their skin, in pharmacopocia and the dangerous of all pouring milk down to their throats.
A sad demise presents before us a tragic decline in the population of snakes during Nagpanchmi, the festival which unravels the myth of snakes drinking milk.
I have never been able to understand why people accept such practices. These are the wild creatures deprived of milk; neither they produce it nor feed milk to their young one's. Yet a large section of the Indian population firmly believes that snakes must be fed with milk. This is a poison for them. Snakes are being starved before the onset of this festival and then inflicted with countless cruelties by snake charmers. Milk being the real cause of choking their body within two-three hours finally leading to their collapse.
...
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060804/0408322.htm

NEW KERALA (India) 31 July 06 Snake festival witnesses millions bowing to serpentine deities
Allahabad/Ujjain (ANI): Thousands of devotees visited the Nag Vasuki temple in Allahabad to pay their obeisance to the 'Snake God' on the occasion of Nag-Panchami on Sunday.

"Today on the festival of Nag Panchami, millions of devotees obtain the blessings by offering milk and flowers to the Nag Devta (snake goddess). Worshipping here on this day assures people deliverance from Kala Sarp yoga (wrath of serpents) by Nag Vasuki (a mythological snake)," said Rajendra Tiwary, a devotee.
Meanwhile in Ujjain devotees also thronged the Nag Chandreshwar temple, which opens only once a year.
Since morning, the pilgrims arrived for worship and offered sweet milk and coconuts in the temple.
….
This day also serves the purpose of wildlife conservation as millions of Hindus refuse to harm snakes or any reptiles on this day.
http://www.newkerala.com/news3.php?action=fullnews&id=30877

THE HINDU (Chennaim India) 29 July 06 Don't be charmed by snake-charmers!
Hyderabad: Several non-governmental voluntary organisations have jointly appealed to the general public not to entertain snake charmers during `Nagapanchami' festival on July 30.
The Blue Cross of Hyderabad, the Bharatiya Prani Mitra Sangh, the Sahayog Organisation, the Prani Mitra Ramesh Jagirdar Foundation, the Friends of Snakes and the Special Police Officers (Prevention of Cruelty Act) held that snakes drank only water and not milk. If "half-dead" snakes brought by snake charmers drink milk offered by people it is only because they have been kept dehydrated and starved for days. According to these organisations, the snakes are skinned and left to die once the festival is over.
Volunteers of these organisations will be moving around different localities in the twin cities to catch hold of snake charmers and take the reptiles into custody.
Anyone noticing snake charmers can communicate it to those in charge by calling: 65531107/ 9394005600/ 9246575600.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/29/stories/2006072919350200.htm

CHRONICLE (Harare, Zimbabwe) 15 July 06 Family flees as flower turns into snake (Patrick Chitumba)
Victoria Falls: A Jambezi family has reportedly run away from its luxurious home after a “money maker flower” kept in its house has turned into a venomous snake, it has been learnt.
The prominent family in the resort town of Victoria Falls (name supplied) runs thriving businesses and is also allegedly known for supplying illegal foreign currency dealers with float (local currency to illegally change foreign currency).
The story has become the talk of the town in Victoria Falls and the family members are said to have gone to Zambia to consult an inyanga.
According to the neighbours, trouble began last Thursday when the family went to Botswana to buy some merchandise for resale and nobody looked after the “money maker flower”. It is believed that their son who was in Victoria Falls was supposed to go home and water the flower with milk but he forgot to do so as he was enjoying the company of foreigners who had come to visit him.
“For three days, no one fed the flower with milk. When the boy’s visitors left, he went home and to his utter amazement, there was a huge snake with its tail coming from the flower pot and its body hanging on the walls, taking the original shape of the flower which used to hang on the walls right round the sitting room,” said a neighbour who requested anonymity.
He said the son quickly closed the door and spent the nights in his car until his parents returned.
“As soon as they arrived, the parents went to Zambia where we believe their inyanga stays. They therefore went to consult, to find umuthi to avert the problem. Before going to Zambia, they also slept in a car outside their house. Thinking of how rich they are, it seems as if they were using the flower or is it the flower had some black magic for them to acquire wealth,” he said.
Elders who spoke to Chronicle said some people had resorted to evil ways to acquire wealth. They said if someone who does not use umuthi went into that room, he would see just an ordinary flower but to the family members it was a snake.

http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=5885&cat=1&livedate=7/15/2006

AFTERNOON (Bombay, India) 04 April 06 Among mystics - Don’t kill (Khushwant Singh)

We don’t know enough about insects and serpents because we are brought up on baseless myths. The commonest is about cobras drinking milk and swaying to the notes of a charmer’s ‘been’. … Nevertheless every ‘Nag Panchmi’ thousands of gallons of milk are wasted on worshipping them.

http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=editorials&xfile=April2006_malice_standard137&child=malice

NEW IND PRESS (Chennai, India) 12 January 06 Superstitious UP village puts sacred snake on pedestal
Bipravali (ANI): Residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh have decided to construct a temple at a site where a snake died recently.
The cobra was initially shooed away by the scared villagers, but when they realized that the reptile kept coming back to the same spot everyday, the awestruck villagers, started believing in its "divine appearance".
The snake apparently followed his eight-hour shift religiously, mysteriously making his appearance at nine in the morning at his favourite spot on the outskirts of Bipravali village. It later recoiled back into its tiny hole in the ground, once its time was up.
A village priest had already begun holding regular sermons from the Ramayana and Gita, holy books of the Hindus, near the site, when the snake died.
"We plan to construct a temple of the snake here now. We feel he (the snake) is an incarnation of a great soul.
“Recently, a monk who has taken a pledge of silence visited us and conveyed that we should organize regular sermons from the Holy books, a time within which the snake will take a "samadhi (to become one with God)," said Govind Sharma, a villager.
The snake apparently was not scared of the scores of villagers who started gathering near his "home" once its fame started spreading, adding to the frenzy around it.
"We saw him (the snake) for a few days and then organized a sermon from the Geeta (Holy Book) also. We worshipped him but he did not drink the milk that we offered," said Ram Vati, a villager.
Villagers have already begun collecting donations so that construction of the temple can start at the earliest.
Indians are usually a superstitious community, with myths more prevalent across villages than in urban centers.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20060111090641&Page=P&Title=Nation&Topic=0


   

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