Snakes

[Stephen Hodge]

Birgit Kellner

> Incidentally, is anyone aware of snakes being described with the
> attribute "visphUrjat"? This occurs in examples for a specific kind of
> inference in logical treatises - from observing a snake which is
> "visphUrjat", one infers the presence of the mongoose, its arch-enemy,
> behind the bushes. Some texts suggest "visphUrjat" is a noise (hissing?
> growling?), but I've never found out what it really means, and what kind
> of snake this could be (the snake is just referred to as "ahi"). Some
> modern translators render it as "agitated, angry".
As was mentioned in the article posted by Allen Thrasher, the saw-scaled
viper makes a characteristic rasping or rattling noise with its scales -- it
seems to be the only snake in India that does this.  Could this be the
meaning, given that this snake is quite common in parts of India ?

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge