Sarpabandha

Author(s): Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

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 Brief Communications 341

village close by was Kfika'ni, but after tle above-related him; consequently the token of cancellation of the
event occurred it was changed to Kukkakakani: kukka debt is replaced by a note of hand equal to the
is the Telugu name for a dog.
original purchase price, a document which is closer
The second version that escaped my attention to that of Kash. II than to any other version. In
previously is that published by Sir Aurel Stein this detail Hatim's version is aberrant as com-
and Sir George A. Grierson in ilatim's Tales 50-3 pared with all the other versions. The amount of
the sale price of the dog is 500 rupees, coinciding
(1923). This tale was recorded in Kashmir and
like the two Kashmir versions discussed in the with no other version. The service rendered by
previous paper is emboxed in a longer story, very the dog is that found in the Kath., Bal., ilyd.,
close in its contents to that in which Knowles Kash. I and II versions; the item of the dog

found it. This version is obviously closely related digging to indicate the hiding-place of the goods
to Knowles's two versions, but differs from them is omitted, a change for the worse. The place of

in a few comparatively minor details. It agrees the killing of the dog was at home. The token was
with them in the details of the dramatis personae, discovered on the dog's neck, an agreement with
the circumstances of the transfer of money, and the majority of versions. The dog was killed by
the reason given for killing the dog; all these are being shot with a gun, a means found in no other
peculiar to the Kashmir versions and found in no version and clearly a modern innovation.
other versions. ilatim's version makes the original M. B. EMENEAU
owner sell the dog outright rather than pledge UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Sarpabandha

The word sarpabandha is discussed by M. B. (in the MHIG. version, 'den arm begreif und
Emeneau in JAOS 62. 206 and rendered, rightly umbesluog, umbewant sich vil und gnuog'), and
as I think, by 'snake-fetter.' If the word is rare, cannot be removed until it is offered milk, at the
the idea is a very old one. It underlies RV 6. 75. 14 same time that holy monks are chanting; it is
where the archer's arm-guard is called a hasta- clear that here too the serpent is charmed by the
ghn4i, evidently a kenning for the snake that bites music, at the same time that it is fed.
the hand that feeds or seizes it, and this guard is It may also be observed that while only two
said to 'go round and round the arm as Ahi might occurrences of the word sarpabandha can be cited,
with his coils' (dhir iva bhogai' dry eit bbih m). there is the similar word nMgabandha,2 which
In TS 2. 4. 1. 6 and 5. 4. 5. 4 Vrtra "ties up" occurs as an architectural term and as the name
(asindt) Indra in sixteen coils, and Agni frees him of a pattern, in which latter sense it means a
from 'that evil' by burning away the coils; so design of interlacing serpents which are, so to say,
also in PB 13. 5. 22 where the verb corresponding knotted together. I think, indeed, that there is
to asinat is paryabhujat, and Indra frees himself an allusion to our story in the words of RV
from that evil by means of a chant, the serpent 10. 61. 13, 'that knot of gusna's that Indra re-
unwinding itself as he sings, and the case is really solved,' and in 9. 97. 18 where there is a knot that
one of snake-charming. Soma (the main source of Indra's strength) is
Incidentally, the wording of the RV context enjoined to untie; and also perhaps in the word
taken together with the facts of the Ahi-Vrtra setu (from si, as in asi'nat, cited above) where this
myth, are strangely reminiscent of the Karados word bears its meaning of ' bond,' and not that of
story 1 in which a fierce serpent (created by a 'bridge.' The subject of knots requires, however,
magician to be the hero's enemy, just as Vrtra wasa longer discussion, and I will only remark that
created by Tvastr to be Indra's foe), when Karados the Jina Mahdvira (terms that in another context
unwittingly puts his hand into the box in which might refer to Indra himself) is Nirgrantha,
it has been concealed, winds itself about his arm 'Freed from the Knot.'
Further, with respect to the second part of the
1 For the Karados story in detail see E. K. Heller, The
Story of the Sorcerer's Serpent, in Speculum 15. 338- 2See s.v. Nagabandha in JAOS 48.265 (1928), with
347 (1940). references.

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 342 Brief Communications

word (-bandha), and Ksemendra's reference to those in which the Buddha, who is free from all
relatives as bdndhavah (V badh, to 'bind' or attachments, points out that it is in vain to ask,
'fetter'), it would appear that the notion that 'What is my kindred?' (Sn. 455-6). Finally, it
'relatives are fetters' is implicit in the etymology is not insignificant that the word bhoga, 'coil,' as
itself. That 'relatives are fetters' is from the used above, means also ' pleasure,' ' enjoyment,'
religious, as distinguished from the social point of 'food.' 3 In these we are all entangled: but 'What
view (where such 'connections' may be an advan- dreams may come when we have shuffled off this
tage or a disadvantage according to circum- mortal coil, must give us pause! '
stances), an almost universal idea. It is expressed, Thus sarpabandha is certainly one word, and
for example, in Meister Eckhart's 'So long as thou its use in Mbh. is perfectly intelligible, both from
still knowest who thy father and mother are in an Indian and from a European point of view: the
time, thou art not dead with the real death-' Kauravas have tried to 'ensnare' or 'entangle'
(Pfeiffer, p. 462) a dictum that doubtless rests the Pa4davas in 'evil as Vrtra entangled Indra.
upon the words ' No one can be my disciple who
ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY
hateth not father and mother . . . ' (Luke 14. 26),
MusEuM oF FINE ARTS,
and that is exactly paralleled in MU 6. 28, 'If to BOSTON, MASSACHUISETTS
son and wife and family he is attached-for such
an one, no, never at all,' and in numerous Bud- 8 Bhoga covers all 'experience,' whether of pleasure or
pain; and just as for Plato, so for Ksemendra all 'ex-
dhist texts, e. g. Sn. 60 'Abandon son and father periences' are passions by which we are disturbed and
and mother and go thy way alone,' and notably dis-eased. Experience is something that we suffer.

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