COBRA AS GUARDIAN

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1576, 16 February 1927, Page 2

COBRA AS GUARDIAN

INDIAN TREASURE VAULT REINCARNATION OF PRIEST From the central. provinces of India conies the remarkable story of a cobra guardian of treasures belonging to an old fainliy vault. It seems that Rajah Narsing Rao, a wealthy landholder in the Behars, was trying to find some old j treasures which, according to family tra{dition, were buried in one of his underj ground cellars. After sinking trial ' pits at several places an opening was discovered, and big copper vessels were found piled up by the walls of the room when the opening was cleared iup. ' j Nobody venturing to go in, they managed to draw out one copper vessel with the aid of a hook, and broke it open. To the surprise of all, gold coins 'of the time of Akbar the Great, the famous Emperor of Delhi in the sixteenth century, tumbled out, followed ,by strings of rings and bracelets ' studded with wonderful gems. i . Tho Rajah was sent for, and he was about to order the rest of the vessels . to be pulled out, when, to the horror, of everybody, a large yellow cobra - rushed out of the cellar and attacked • those who were despoiling the treasure. j Everybody ran away, and after a little j vvhiie the cobra was observed slithering jin and about the piles- of gold and 'jewels that had tumbled out of the ; broken vessel. The Rajah allowed a couple of hours to pass by, and, being a superstitious man, ordered that the treasure should be sealed up again in : another- copper vessel and thrown back .' into the cellar as soon as the cobra ! had disappeared within. - • j CELLAR AGAIN CLOSED. j The opening of the cellar was again ! closed up, and the Rajah took a vow '. binding on himself and his descendants I never to open the old treasure again, ? unless a dire necessity arose in the family. I _ On going through his family records ' it was found that the same palm leaf which contained news about this treasure also had a note saying that a holy cobra was guarding the treasure, amd would not allow anybody to touch it unless convinced that there was real necessity for the safety of the family to touch the riches so concealed. It was also stated that tha spirit of the j family priest of the Rajah who founded . the family of Narsing Rao was living ! in the body of the cobra. ! To the Hindu, who believes in rein- . carnation and transmigration of the soul, the cobra would mean the linkj ing up for a time of an evolved human j soul, for the purpose of the atonement !of his sins, to that of the cobra. This is supposed to be one of the most terrible punishments awarded to human beings for their sins. It is, however, j a punishment especially reserved for a I person who is advanced enough to know right from wrong, but whose lower nature is too powerful for him to be controlled wisely or well. NO PUNISHMENT MORE TERRIBLE. For to a person who is in the early stages of civilisation, and therefore I more of a savage in his character and ! actions, it is believed that such a linking up would be no punishment. But I to a person who has a highly sensitive I mind, and who continues to keep the memory of his human individuality, I even after being linked' up with an j animal, it is ghastly to have all the feelings that he used to have and to be conscious, moreover, of tihe limitations to which the body he is occupy- j ing at that tim« are binding his actions. * Such a spirit can only function -as the body of the animal to which he is j attached can- allow, him to function. ! There can be no punishment more ter- j rible than that; but it is punishment' given only in the cases of those who are expected to make rapid spiritual progress and have failed to take advantage of the opportunities they had in their human career to do good or to cease doing evil. Such cases of linking up of the human soul to that of an animal have been mentioned in some of the oldest Indian epics known.