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Few days ago, a snake charmer came to me introducing himself as the brother-in-law of snake charmer Yenkta and told me that Yenkta died of a snake bite. Fever suffering Yenkta went on a call to catch a cobra and grabbed the snake by its neck instead of the head giving an opportunity to the cobra to bite him and died within few hours!

“Listen, you guys sell us roots, herbals and stones claiming that these will remove the poison and save lives from snake bites. Why didn’t you guys make medicine out of it for Yenkta? What will happen if we try to save lives believing you folks?” I asked.

“Ours is the genuine medicine, Sir. There is no cheating. We have saved many lives out of it! But if the snake bites on the spot between two fingers then no one can save them. Yenkta had the snake bite right on that spot.” He replied.

“Poor Yenkta, whenever he came here, he used to catch snakes around here. What a tragedy!” I showed my condolences.

“He died in Belur, Sir. Poor guy was remembering you while dieing” the snake charmer lied to raise the level of my sympathy. I was not the only one closest to Yenkta to remember me while dieing. Moreover it’s impossible for this snake charmer to recognize me as I am the one that Yenkta remembered because I am seeing this guy for the first time. Since I inquired about Yenkta, he got a clue that I am known to Yenkta and wants to make use of this to his benefit. Sensing that he is a cheat, I said concluding the conversation “These are the dangers in snake charming. Tragedies do occur but the life must go on.”

“Yes Sir, tragedies do occur. Yenkta closed his eyes leaving behind his responsibilities. He left his orphan daughter behind. Now we have to take care of his orphan daughter” he said.

I neither knew that Yenkta had a daughter nor seen. All that I had seen was Yenkta roaming around with his wife and an infant hanging to his wife and I also remember that Yenkta told me that his baby died within few months of the birth. I suspect that this snake charmer talking about the right Yenkta or some one else with the same name. Or may be this guy is banking on the opportunity of my publicly expressed condolences for Yenkta’s death.
“You know about his wife’s death, right?” said the snake charmer laying an intro to another sympathetic story. Yenkta’s wife had died several years before Yenkta died. Her death had raised several suspicious assumptions as Yenkta was trying to marry again. Cautioned about his another hour of long story, I said “I know about that. That’s when I saw Yenkta for the first time, besides his wife’s corpse.”

The guy was still standing after reporting all this. “Do you catch snakes?” I asked. “No Sir, I don’t know how to play the snake flute” he replied. But he still stood without showing any sign of getting out. Wanting to get rid of him, finally I asked “What do you want? Why are you still here?”

“Nothing Sir, I am just collecting some change from people like you to buy some clothes to Yenkta’s daughter” he lied again.

He was just concerned about adjusting enough money for a belly full of toddy for that evening. I did not want to waste any more time investigating his lies and witness more of his drama, I gave him a rupee. He left happily wishing for Yenkta’s soul to rest in peace.

May be its true that snake charmer Yenkta died of the snake bite! It’s been more than two years that I had seen him for the last time. He and Kariappa came to me on a bicycle double riding from an eight mile distant Alandur and quarreled. They were angry that I have written unfairly on them. Both are illiterates. Kariappa was teased by some college students while waiting for the bus in the bus station. They laughed at him saying that I have written that Yenkta’s wife is Kariappa’s mistress and so on in my book. So raged Kariappa brought Yenkta along with him and showed up in the early morning itself to conduct an ‘investigation’.

“It may be true that I am a womanizer as you wrote. Male means we tend to go into ditch wherever we find and wash off whenever we find water. But you should consider my caste status. How can I have a relation with such a low caste one” Kariappa yelled. Perhaps none of the writers would have faced off their characters coming out of the story and conducting an ‘investigation’. Its been a while that I had written that story that’s now been included as a text for the teenaged college students who spiced up the things that are written and not written and told Kariappa. I had never dreamt that all these things would happen. I told them that no such things are written. If there are such matters, I will write them properly. Their anger was so momentous that it disappeared immediately after hearing my words. They did not even ask what I had written.

Yenkta told “You know everything about me, Sir. Please write all about it instead of something else” while leaving. That’s the last time I had seen Yenkta.

When I saw Yenkta for the first time, he was viewed as a murderer by the people gathered around. His wife was dead in front of the tent he had put up in the open land of the village. All passersby were gathered around his tent. Yenkta was crying loud near his wife’s corpse. I didn’t know Yenkta personally then. So I asked the guy standing next to me what’s going on. “He tells us that someone murdered his wife! Who would kill this beggar lady in the broad daylight in an open area? Did she have any money or worthy things?” He exclaimed.

Another guy standing by said “It’s not a murder at all. There are no wounds on the body. The body looks like as though she is sleeping! I guess this bastard have choked her to death and now acting crying in loud.”

“Look there! He has all twenty eight varieties of snakes in those baskets in his tent. Perhaps one of them might have bitten her to death” another guy claimed.

I looked at his tent from where I was standing. A big snake was sleeping rolled up to a pole of the tent. I thought it may be a python by gauging its size. But another passerby told me that it’s a Boa constrictor and not a python. It’s surprising that his wife survived so far with all the death messenger snakes around in the tent. Still nobody could understand how she died. Despite her healthy looking, it’s evident that she is dead. Everyone opinioned that either she died of a snake bite or Yenkta might have choked her to death.

“I just came from the city and saw her dead! Why should I murder her?” Yenkta told pointing someone that he also accompanied him while coming from the city. He also didn’t agree of the snakebite saying if its snakebite the body should turn into blue.

Rather focusing on how his wife died Yenkta’s crying in loud made the people gathered to think that he might have murdered his wife. “It looks like he might have given her a death beat. Realizing her death, he would have laid the body in sleeping position and made a city trip and now crying out loud. Look at him, not even a single drop of tear, just faking a loud cry” someone in the crowd stated with the proof of evidence of not having tear in his eyes.

Finally, most of the crowd gave some spare change to him saying “Whatsoever happened, happened. Go get her a proper cremation. Don’t use this money on drinking.” I also gave some spare money and left.

Given this background, I had a suspicion on Yenkta when he came to my farm saying he will catch the snakes around my farm by playing snake flute. I had seen snake charmers charming snakes by playing snake flute but I had never seen nor believed that they catch snakes also by playing a snake flute. I yelled at him to get out of my farm when he asked me. My logic was that it’s a cheat to claim that the earless snakes come to him by listening to his music.

Yenkta didn’t get discouraged a bit by my reaction. Perhaps most of the people might react the same way as me. Also he needs to be patient as this is his living. He pulled dirty torn out papers from the pocket of his dirty coat claiming that these are the certificates of appreciation given to him for catching venomous snakes. It was impossible to read those torn out certificates as they were folded and unfolded countless times.

Yenkta caught many snakes that day around our house by playing the snake flute! He filled his baskets with cobras and vipers after yanking their fangs out. I was stunned to see him pull the snakes by the tail by the side of flower pots, and below the surface of fallen leaves. I became worried thinking of what a dangerous situation I am living in. I asked him to come frequently and catch all the snakes around here. I was surprised thinking where they were hiding all these days without coming to our sight at once.

Now the murderer looking Yenkta looked like a lifesaver.

When I explained this miracle of Yenkta’s magic of catching snakes by playing the snake flute to others, everyone discouraged me and seeded suspicions in their own way into my head.

“He is a cheat bastard! He created illusions to pull some money out of you. Let him come to us and play his snake flute!” Kariappa degraded Yenkta.

“What do you mean by illusion, Kariappa? I have seen him catching the snakes with my very own eyes!” I said.

“He is an illusionist. By playing the snake flute he puts spell on you and makes you to see all the ropes, vines in his hands to look like snakes. That’s what the illusion means” Kariappa said.

So it means Yenkta made me mentally disoriented temporarily! It seems in some village the snake charmer was not paid for his work and the snake charmer didn’t remove the spell on the villagers. So for those villagers all vines, ropes started to look like snakes it seems. Finally, when the villagers brought the snake charmer back and paid him the due money, the spell broke by itself it seems!

Someone told me “He would release his pet snakes around your house without your knowledge before his play. Then he catches the same snakes by playing the snake flute. Why would wild snakes come for a man’s call and get their teeth yanked? It’s all his play for the living.”

Another person told me “He would hide his pet snakes in his waste line cloth. While playing the snake flute, he would distract you and release those snakes and catch the same. Have you tested him by patting his body and the waste line?”

“What is this Sir, well-educated, intellectual, scientific thinking, teasing those who shave their head at temples, people like you believe this? There is no surprise in common villagers talking about ghosts, magic, spells. How can you believe that the snakes come forward by listening to music! It didn’t even flash you the simple fact of snakes not having ears?” teased my Agriculture Research Center friends.

So whenever I raise Yenkta’s topic, my friends would tease me considering as though I am converted. Yenkta became the spokesperson of superstitions that converted me.

My gratitude towards Yenkta of protecting me by catching all those vicious snakes around my house slowly started to dissolve as my friends seeded the seeds of suspicions. My observations of Yenkta’s wit, talk and tricks also made me to think that he might be a cheater. He had pulled four to six rupees out of me negotiating a rupee per cobra and half a rupee per snake of any other type. I was not worried about the money. But the fact that I got cheated on was bugging me.

Yenkta’s arrival and capturing of snakes for living slowly started to raise principles problems in me.

I decided that I should expose his tricks and scold him to my content and kick him out without paying him a single paisa (penny) when he shows up next time. I discussed all the different possibilities to put him to test with my friend Entomologist Siddappa. I was mainly worried about how to figure out if he is making us mentally disoriented by his illusions. We decided to photograph his snake catching thinking that his illusion may cheat our eyes but not the camera lens.

Yenkta started to look like a cheat and a murderer again!

But Yenkta didn’t show up for a long time. His tent at Mudigere open ground was disappeared. I figured he might have camped somewhere else. Snake charmers are nomads roam all around the state camping at many places. I have seen him in Dharwad, Harihar, Hunsur and many other places in the past fifteen years. He needed to go in search for his community people as he plans his wedding bells again. I wonder how he searches these no address people!

As I was waiting to expose his tricks, I spotted him at Sakleshpur. He had piled up the herbals and roots on the roadside trying to sell to onlookers claiming those herbals cure skin diseases and some save lives from the snake bites. There were bunch of taxidermy snake skins laid neatly next to him. Foreign tourists are the only customers that those skins would attract.

The boa constrictor was rolled into a bundle and sleeping near him looking totally lifeless. Occasional flash of its split tongue was the only indication that it’s alive. It didn’t seem to be reacting to the snake flute. I guess Yenkta was keeping it just to attract the crowd and try to sell the herbal roots to the people coming to see it.

I didn’t go near his crowd. If I go, I am sure that he would say something and pull some money out of me. I also didn’t want to negotiate in public with him. Even though the itch on my tongue to scold him by revealing his tricks was strong, I controlled it and kept quite.

I felt pity when I looked at Yenkta from a distance. His traditional profession, culture, tricks were slowly becoming useless. He was not making any money after the government banned export of snake skins. His herbals, roots, nuts had lost customers to modern medicines. The forest preserve departments were not even permitting the hunting of small games such as quails and rabbits as he used to do earlier.

Part 1 | Part 2

Ravi Hanj
obba.odhuga@gmail.com
Translation of Sri Poorna Chandra Tejaswi’s “Yenktana Pungi” story

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