People on the busy High Road in Chittoor witnessed scary moments on Thursday evening when a 35-year-old snake-catcher-turned-beggar, Raja, from Tiruvannamalai commenced his errand of seeking alms in a terrifying manner—wielding a 10-foot-long Rat Snake (Jerri Pothu).
Raja, who came to Chittoor from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu a couple of days ago, caught the snake at local Kattamanchi tank near the bus station. Confining it in a bamboo basket, he kept roaming the streets for alms, often showing the reptile to roadside gatherings. As the untrained snake failed to cooperate with Raja, he became frustrated.
Throwing away the basket in a drunken state, Raja adorned himself in the manner of Lord Shiva, using the rat snake as a garland around his neck. His act, instead of attracting the crowds, scared them away, particularly women and children.
Further frustrated out of hunger and in a semi-inebriated condition, the man kept flinging the snake at the public by holding its tail.
In front of the local court complex, he began to stop passing cars to seek alms. When they refused, Raja tried to fling the snake inside the vehicle, creating panic among the passengers. His wild acts prompted the pedestrians to desert the High Road for a while.
Seeing a group of youth gathering to attack him, Raja fled towards bus station, while the snake around his neck tried its best to break free but in vain.
Speaking to The Hindu , Raja said he was a native of Anantapur town, but settled in Tiruvannamalai several years ago. “I and my wife came here two days ago. She went to matinee show and after her return we will be moving back to our place. I never scare people away. They are just confused. It is in fact a great opportunity for the people to have look at this 10-foot-long snake, which is rare,” he said.
Raja said during the last 25 years, he caught thousands of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, and had killed hundreds of them all over South India. He said he also had tried his hand in selling sand-boas for a price when he was experiencing his hay days. “During the last couple of years, I have totally stopped killing snakes. I just use them for earning my bread. I keep changing snakes, replacing old ones with new ones,” he said.
He said generally snake-catchers after catching snakes, particularly rat snakes and cobras, skin them and boil the coiled bodies, extract the wax-like fatty substance and sell them at a price to quacks. They would use the substance for treating various pains.
