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The cock-headed snake
There is a belief in parts of Kerala that a large cock-headed snake occurs in the deep forests. The story goes that this highly venomous snake, some 15 feet long – that is, about the size of a king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) – black and brown in colour, has a prominent crest like that of a cock. The further embellishment is that it has, sometimes, been heard to crow like a cock, sometimes to cluck like a hen, and, even, occasionally, to whistle. It is also reported to spit venom.
In Malayalam, the snake is called Kozhippoovan (cock-headed), Karinchathi and Karinkoli, the last two being used also for the king cobra.
William Crooke of the Bengal Civil Service – in the days of the Raj – quotes in his book, Things Indian - being discursive notes on various subjects connected with India, (John Murray, London, 1906), a Fra Paoline who spoke of the belief that the ‘Malabar basilisk’ kills by a look. The Malabar District of British times is now part of the State of Kerala. He must have been referring to the cock-headed snake, even though the stories about this snake do not make mention of it ‘killing by a look’ as the basilisk of Western myths was reputed to do.
There is no such snake known to science. Interesingly, this story is very similar to that of the cockatrice on the legends in the West. The cockatrice, or the basilisk, is a mythical creature born of the egg of a cock (yes, not a hen), hatched by a serpent. It has a cock’s head complete with the comb and a serpent’s body and it is reputed to kill by a look. The cockatrice finds mention in the Bible (Isaiah 11:8).
One ingenious explanation for the cockatrice has to do with the habit of snakes to shed their skins. Speaking of the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis), Vivian Fitzimous (Snakes of Southern Africa, 1962) says: “In old specimens, the skin is often incompletely shed, particularly over the top and back of the head, and a loosely attached plume or crest of old skin may remain for sometime before being completely detached; this has given rise to the belief in the existence of a so-called ‘crested mamba’, as distinct from the normal form. So widely established has this belief become in Zululand that the Zulus have a special name for it, ‘Indlondlo’ meaning an “old snake with a crest or protubernace at the back of the head.” Referring to this account, Sherman A. Minton Jr. and Madge Rutherford Minton (Venomous Reptiles, 1969) say: “It is possible that stories of such snakes, carried by word of mouth from deep in Africa to the Mediterranean seaports, formed part of the basis for the cockatrice and basilisk legends.”
Similary, it is not unlikely that a king cobra, incompletely moulted, with part of the dead skin projecting from its head – no doubt a rare sight – has been mistaken for the ‘cock-headed snake’. Incomplete shedding, or dysecdysis, can occsionally occur in snakes because of poor health, dermatitis, mite infestation, malnutrition, inappropriate himidity, trauma, etc.
The king cobra, of course, does not spit vernom. Nor does it crow like a cock or cluck like a hen or whistle, but it has occasionally been heard to growl! – (Courtesy: Cobra, journal of the Chennai Snake Park Trust)
B. Vijayaraghavan
Chennai Snake Park Trust
Chennai 600 022
Italian ‘Madras’
Here’s another story about Madras (MM, June 16th). At the outset, I agree with reader C.K. Jaidev that we could restore the name Madras in English and retain Chennai in Tamil in spite of its Telugu tinge. In fact such a suggestion was given when the name-change was effected. International airlines and other commercial organisations still use the abbreviation ‘MAA’.
Coming to my story about ‘Madras’, I reproduce below what I recorded in my autobiography: “We used to participate in quite a few fairs abroad. The Paris Semaine du Cuir was the most important of them all, held every year in the first week of September. One floor was exclusively devoted to footwear. While looking around, I was surprised to see a board, ‘Madras’. When I entered, I was told by the proprietor that it was a well known chain of shoe-stores in Italy. Since I did not disclose my identity, he took me for a Latin American. When I asked him why he had chosen the name ‘Madras’, he told me that it was a place in India known all over the world for good quality leather and, hence, he chose the name. He also told me that he had never visited Madras, but was buying Madras leathers from agents in London and Paris. I disclosed my identity and told him that he could very well buy these good leathers from Madras directly instead of through middlemen. He said that he would visit Madras in response to my invitation and was also anxious to see the place after which he had named his important shoe-chain.
“True to his word, he came to Madras within a few months. I arranged for his visit to leather centres like Ranipet, Vaniyambadi and Ambur. He was so impressed by the quality of leather and also the abundance that he felt that we could straightaway have at least twenty shoe factories. He wanted to enter into a collaboration with Hafizur Rahman of the South East Tanning Company, which I facilitated when I moved to the Ministry of Commerce. It was practically the first shoe factory in India with foreign collaboration. It is functioning even today, albeit under different management, producing shoes for leading international brands.”
Dr. G. Sundaram, ias (rtd)
A-601, Dugar Apartments
Greenways Road
Chennai 600 028
Strange road name
While travelling by an MTC bus, sitting on a window seat, I spotted a strange road name, recalling neither an Englishman, nor an Indian, but indicating an Imperial measure of distance!
It is Five Furlongs Road in Guindy in the Madhuvankarai area.
Can any reader throw light on this?
N. Dharmeshwaran
(Camp) Plot 21, Kumaran Nagar
Guduvanchery 603 202
Rajneesh & Madras
Another interesting factoid is that Osho Rajneesh's Rajneeshpuram was established in the vicinity of Madras, Oregon, USA (MM, June 16th). It was an active centre till Osho came back to Pune.
C.S. Krishnaswami
padmakswami@yahoo.com
Still on ‘Kavu’
On the usage of ‘Kavu’ in the primary Dravidian languages (MM, June 1st), I found the following notes in a book titled ‘Place Names of Southern India’ by K.M. George, published by the Dravidian Linguistics Association, Trivandrum.
The author refers to the usage of this word, ‘Kavu’, and its root in Tamil [ka - meaning forest, garden], Malayalam [kavu - meaning forest, holy enclosure] and Kannada [kavu - small forest].
For each of these, the author provides examples of place names, such as Tiruvanaikka (near Trichy), Tirukkolakka (near Sirkazhi), Bharanikkavu (near Alleppey), Erikkavu (near Alleppey), and Mallekavu (near Tumkur).
M. Ramanathan
rus.cahimb@gmail.com
’Graceful English’
Regarding Dr. A. Raman’s letter on the abysmal state of English (MM, August 1st), I agree that English should not be taught in the learner’s mother tongue and that politicians should not discourage the learning of English as it has already become a world language. But I would like to remind Dr. Raman that many types of English exist even in the land of its birth. Shaw discussed this in his play Pygmalion by showing us how Prof. Higgins took a bet and taught the girl who sold flowers to speak “graceful” English as Dr. Raman puts it. Shaw made fun of American English and said that the Americans don't speak it at all.
I have visited many countries around the world, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Italy, France, etc. and the tourist guides spoke English which I could easily understand.
But the two countries that stumped me were America and England where people were born to the language. On a trip to London by bus, the tourist guide spoke Cockney and was not understood by most of the tourists in the bus who fell asleep. In the US, on a boat trip to the Statue of Liberty, the guide spoke English with a Yankee accent. We tourists from many countries could not understand a word of what he said.
Different varieties of English exist all over the world but King’s English or “graceful English” will belong to the very educated class of people.
Radha Padmanabhan
msp1925@gmail.com
Exam no longer
I totally agree with the views of reader A. Raman (MM, August 1st) that the State Government is not bothered about communicative English among its employees. Of late, there is no language paper in the exams conducted by the Public Service Commission. Only an objective type of pattern is followed. As rightly pointed out by Dr. Raman, today, English is the language of global force. Will the State Government look afresh at this?
Krishnan
krishlaw1960@gmail.com
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