snake & mongoose in ancient India

[birgit kellner]

A few interim comments on the responses that my mongoose-query has generated so
far, perhaps also in order to narrow down my initial query:

First, thanks to Arlo Griffiths and Carlos Lopez, who sent me a private e-mail,
for their informative replies; I would be *highly* interested in getting to
know more about Joshua Tatz' research if it was published, and in getting in
touch with him in case it wasn't.

I am of course aware of the fact *that* the expression "nakula" occurs numerous
times in the MahAbharata as well as in other sources, in connection with snakes
as well as in other contexts. I have also acquired some basic knowledge,
largely thanks to the internet and marvellously convenient encyclopediae on
CD-Rom, about Viverridae and the different subspecies of Herpestes.

My questions, to rephrase them in a more precise manner, are however a bit more
specific:
(1) Are there any passages in ancient Indian literature (Vedic or Sanskrit)
which provide more *detailed* information about the relation between snake and
mongoose, in addition to merely stating that they are mutual enemies? In
particular, are there passages which describe fights between them to the effect
that one of them habitually kills the other?

(2) Regarding zoological issues: Is it probable that inhabitants of the Indian
subcontinent generally witnessed, during the first millenium C.E., that
mongoose of some subspecies or another attacked and killed snakes (of some
subspecies or another)? Or is it for instance equally probable that they saw
snakes killing mongoose *AND* mongoose killing snakes? In other words, the
issue is not whether there are different subspecies of mongoose per se which
can be differentiated according to morphological critera and so forth, but
whether some mongoose behave differently towards snakes than others - of
course, on a large scale (a tired mongoose might always be surprised by a cobra
attacking from behind ...). Perhaps this question is ultimately unanswerable
due to sketchy knowledge regarding the distribution of animals across the
Indian subcontinent at that time, but if so, I'd like to know.

Regards,

Birgit Kellner
Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies
Vienna University