18 Mar, 2007
PATARGHAT (SAHARSA): He is not a snake charmer. Nor does he practise black magic to cure snake bites. But he is one of the rare species of Homo sapiens who communicate with the reptiles. Also, he can "smell" snakes to locate them. Living in a thatched house with his wife, two daughters and a minor son, Montun Mukhiya works in agriculture fields to eke out a living. But his is the most well known address here, thanks to his qualities of the slithery kind. Accompanied by visiting newsmen, Montun went to a bamboo field and, after breathing somewhat heavily, pointed to a hole in which, he said, there must be some poisonous snakes. In presence of over two hundred villagers, he made a peculiar whistle sound with his lips and two snakes came out of the hole. The 45-plus man craned out his neck, spread his hand and pulled the two snakes out. The reptiles, nearly three feet long, were a bit difficult to handle. One even bit Montun in his palm from where some blood oozed out. But he remained unfazed. The visitors were scared. The villagers were not. Sexagenarian Sunaina Devi said, "Hundreds of snakes would have bitten him... He is immune to their poison." Saharsa civil surgeon Dr J P Singh expressed surprise over Montun's "feat" but added 98 per cent of snake bites are not harmful as these snakes are non-poisonous. "Yet, if a man is immune to lethal dozes of venom, it is nothing but a miracle," he said. Policemen at the Patarghat police outpost recalled they once hired Montun's services to catch two snakes that had slipped into the outpost. He was also bitten by them. Montun does not charge any fees for such work. "Nor does he kill the snakes or allow their commercial use," outpost officer incharge N P Nirala said, adding he instead carries the snakes to distant fields or jungles and sets them free. Montun told newsmen he is into all this under "divine orders" he received in his dreams. "As a child, I was very cruel to snakes and killed quite a few of them. But in my dreams I promised an unseen power that I would protect them," he said. But how come the snake bites do not have any effect on him? "I rub a small quantity of 'chuna' (calcium) on the wound caused by a snake bite, and that works," he said. As for his altruism towards snakes, Montun said a circuswallah once ditched him and took away a snake from him for commercial use. "Subsequently, a deadly snake bit me and though I somehow did not die, I had to spend nearly Rs 16,000 on my treatment," he recalled. Since then, Montun has not given any of the snakes he caught to any man.
PATARGHAT (SAHARSA): He is not a snake charmer. Nor does he practise black magic to cure snake bites. But he is one of the rare species of Homo sapiens who communicate with the reptiles. Also, he can "smell" snakes to locate them. Living in a thatched house with his wife, two daughters and a minor son, Montun Mukhiya works in agriculture fields to eke out a living. But his is the most well known address here, thanks to his qualities of the slithery kind. Accompanied by visiting newsmen, Montun went to a bamboo field and, after breathing somewhat heavily, pointed to a hole in which, he said, there must be some poisonous snakes. In presence of over two hundred villagers, he made a peculiar whistle sound with his lips and two snakes came out of the hole. The 45-plus man craned out his neck, spread his hand and pulled the two snakes out. The reptiles, nearly three feet long, were a bit difficult to handle. One even bit Montun in his palm from where some blood oozed out. But he remained unfazed. The visitors were scared. The villagers were not. Sexagenarian Sunaina Devi said, "Hundreds of snakes would have bitten him... He is immune to their poison." Saharsa civil surgeon Dr J P Singh expressed surprise over Montun's "feat" but added 98 per cent of snake bites are not harmful as these snakes are non-poisonous. "Yet, if a man is immune to lethal dozes of venom, it is nothing but a miracle," he said. Policemen at the Patarghat police outpost recalled they once hired Montun's services to catch two snakes that had slipped into the outpost. He was also bitten by them. Montun does not charge any fees for such work. "Nor does he kill the snakes or allow their commercial use," outpost officer incharge N P Nirala said, adding he instead carries the snakes to distant fields or jungles and sets them free. Montun told newsmen he is into all this under "divine orders" he received in his dreams. "As a child, I was very cruel to snakes and killed quite a few of them. But in my dreams I promised an unseen power that I would protect them," he said. But how come the snake bites do not have any effect on him? "I rub a small quantity of 'chuna' (calcium) on the wound caused by a snake bite, and that works," he said. As for his altruism towards snakes, Montun said a circuswallah once ditched him and took away a snake from him for commercial use. "Subsequently, a deadly snake bit me and though I somehow did not die, I had to spend nearly Rs 16,000 on my treatment," he recalled. Since then, Montun has not given any of the snakes he caught to any man.
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