AP govt mulls 'Sarpa Yaga' after a spate of snake bites

With over 100 farmers suffering snake bites and at least two dead, in the Diviseema Island in Krishna district, the Andhra Pradesh Endowments department has decided to organize a “Sarpa Santhi Yagam” on Wednesday at the Mopidevi Subrahmanyeswara Swami temple to appease the snake god.

The government which has no clue why the snakes are coming out in large numbers in Diviseema has finally opted to take a spiritual route to solve the phenomenon.

According to Temple Executive Officer M. Sarada Kumari, 17 priests would perform the four-hour yagam reciting “Sarpa Suktam “aimed at pacifying the snake gods which the locals believe are angry for some fault of theirs.

“The demand came from the locals who believe that invoking god will pacify the snakes that are crawling all over the island, in the fields and in their households. So far the district authorities are allegedly eliminating 23 poisonous with the help of a special team of snake-catchers. The snake catchers were paid Rs 600 per day to catch the snakes in the villages of Koduru mandal, the most affected.

Krishna District collector B.Lakshmikantham has said that the number of snake bite incidents have come down after the steps initiated by the local authorities. “This yaga is giving confidence to the people who are afraid of going out into their agricultural fields. While one person died in Avanigadda another one died in Gannavaram,” he said. Each affected family was given a financial assistance of Rs 2000 and free medical aid at the government hospital.

However, the Friends of snakes’ society here say that it is natural that snakes trespass into the human habitation due to flooding of their natural habitations. “The recent floods and the water left into the sea from Krishna barrage might have displaced these snakes that live in the dunes, they are as afraid as we are ,” Avinash, general secretary of the society told reporters asking the authorities to catch the snakes and leave them back into their habitation.