Perhaps, it is snakes that cause us the most contradictory feelings: fear and disgust - and sometimes almost sacred awe … Well, tell me, why did the snake become a symbol of wisdom? And why is it that almost all the myths about the creation of the world, in one way or another, involve the serpent, or rather, the Serpent - great, terrible and endowed with a higher power?
Creeping progenitors
The myths about the world snake, with the help of which our world was created, have survived among many peoples. For example, the Vedas speaks of the thousand-headed immortal snake Shesha, which plowed the waters of the primitive ocean, but was tamed by the god Vishnu - and curled up in rings so that the god could sleep peacefully.
Since then, Vishnu sleeps on his serpentine bed, but one day Shesha will spew out poisonous fire, destroy the earth, and the awakened Vishnu will create new worlds.
The Evenki say that the Dyabdar snake was sent to a land completely covered with water. He crawled, laying river beds, the water went into the rivers and seas - and land appeared.
The character of the Scandinavian legends of the serpent Jormungand winds around the Earth - only thanks to his efforts the planet is kept in zero gravity.
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The serpent not only participated in the sacred act of the Creation of the world - some peoples have myths according to which he became the progenitor of the human race. Probably everyone remembers the god of the Aztecs, the great feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl. According to Chinese legends, the snake goddess Nuiwa molded people from clay.
The Hopi, one of the most mysterious Indian tribes, call themselves "Children of the Snake". Avraga Mogoi is a snake, from which the Mongols descend, their sacred patron. And our ancestors, the ancient Slavs, certainly tried to tame the snake: they found a snake's nest near the house and carried food and milk there.
Russian ethnographer M. D. Chulkov wrote that snakes "were revered by some Slavs as domestic gods, they sacrificed milk, cheese, eggs … It was forbidden to do harm to all these animals …", but also resists hostile forces and dark intrigues, protects the house from any negativity.
India used to be called "Nagadwipa" - "country of the nagas". Nagas, demigods, wise people-snakes, could take on human form, and women-snakes married kings and heroes. According to some sources, the Buddha himself is from the naga dynasty.
However, the serpent also figured as the enemy of the human race and, in general, light deities. For example, in the mythology of Ancient Egypt, the serpent Apop was the mortal enemy of the sun god Ra: every morning he tried to swallow the sun, so that darkness would be established on the earth forever. But, as you might guess, Ra always won - and the sun rose over the horizon.
Well, don't forget the Bible. The tempting serpent is the embodiment of absolute evil, the eternal enemy of the Creator: because of his incitement, Eve plucked the sacred fruit - and people were expelled from paradise in order to "get their daily bread in the sweat of their brows."
In Indian mythology, a snake has nothing to do with people at all: a snake biting its own tail is an image of infinity and the eternal movement of the Universe.
In a word, in some myths the serpent is wise and magnanimous, in others it is cruel, but still reasonable … It symbolizes the eternal confrontation between good and evil. However, let's remember: good and evil are human categories, and the sacred creature is outside of morality. The mission of the world serpent is different: it protects the universe.
Creepy world
If skeptics do not believe Darwin, who considered monkeys to be our ancestors, it is hardly possible to seriously discuss the hypothesis according to which humans descended from snakes. Where does such a respectful attitude towards creeping things come from?
First of all, probably, the reason is that snakes ruled the planet when there was still no trace of people. The era of reptiles lasted tens of millions of years. The planet was shaken by cataclysms, the climate changed dramatically, dinosaurs and other inhabitants of the Earth died out, ancient civilizations collapsed - and the snakes remained.
And they didn't just stay: they settled in abandoned cities and monasteries, so that a person who had once left these places had no way back - snakes reigned there, not allowing strangers to come close.
Biologists and paleontologists attribute the "immortality" of the snake tribe to its rare ability to adapt. Esoterics - secret knowledge that snakes have kept since the Creation of the world.
One way or another, these far from being the strongest and hardiest animals "crawled" into a new era - and with their own eyes, terrible, unblinking, with vertical pupils, watched the emergence of mankind.
This, apparently, is reflected in ancient myths. From the very beginning, our ancestors were afraid of snakes, whose bites are poisonous, and their hugs are deadly, and admired them: a snake can literally pour on the ground, now hiding in tall grass, then appearing, it is not difficult for it to climb a tree, many snakes have incredibly beautiful coloring …
All these snake "talents" suggested that snakes are not ordinary animals, they are representatives of a different, most ancient race. So legends were born.
Kill the dragon
Man quickly mastered the planet. The descendants of the world serpent crawled through caves and dungeons, lay down on the bottom of the sea, taking with them the cherished knowledge.
People have achieved independence, but have forgotten how to understand the language of the ancient tribe - the language of wisdom. They realized, of course, but too late - the snakes reliably guard their treasures.
Initially, treasures meant secret knowledge, which only an initiate could master: in many legends, snakes voluntarily give treasure to a person who has passed all the tests. But the number of initiates became less and less, and in the end people forgot what exactly their former patrons were guarding.
That is why, in later legends, snakes are mainly guarded by money and jewelry. This is how the image of a sub-underwater creature guarding a pile of jewels appeared.
Well, from here it is not far from the Christian interpretation of the image of the serpent: he is a symbol of vice, the embodiment of the devil. And once again, ancient myths and new layers of legends converge: the snake turns out to be the closest relative of the dragon (and after all, snakes have seen real dragons, dinosaurs and pterodactyls!).
And it becomes a matter of honor to kill the snake. It is he who is pierced with a spear by George the Victorious. The snake is trampled by the hoof of Peter the Great's horse - remember the famous monument to Falcone. By killing the snake, man destroys evil, conquers vice, praises the Lord.
And yet … Neither the Serpent Tugarinovich, nor the naga, nor Quetzalcoatl are forgotten. Probably because mankind has preserved the belief that the mythical great serpent protects the universe and its secrets.
Krishna dances on the Kaliya snake, and the snake's wives pray to Krishna
People descended from …
There is a hypothesis that humanity was preceded by the serpentoid civilization (from the Latin serpenta - "snake"). The first representatives of the "race of snakes" appeared in the Mesozoic era, the era of reptiles.
The hypothesis is based on finds representing the fossil remains of stenonychosaurs. Examining them, the Canadian paleontologist Dale Russell came to the conclusion that the size of the brain of these animals increased as quickly as in the ape-like ancestors of man. Therefore, they could very well become intelligent!
Serpentoids were creatures less than one and a half meters tall, their bodies were covered with scales, limbs resembled human hands and feet, but, apparently, were three-fingered.
During the Cretaceous, the climate changed dramatically - and the serpentoids became extinct. This is also just a hypothesis: scientists are still arguing about the reasons for the disappearance of dinosaurs and other first inhabitants of the planet.
The rapid evolution of mammals also remains a mystery - there is still no clear logical explanation for this phenomenon.
Elena GOLOVINA