Snakes Series - I (Cobra Pearl)

As a kid I was really thrilled by the story and that made me to feel that such people were very brave and great;but I never knew at that age that I would be one day handling such snakes as my patients.

Our childhood days have many unforgettable memories. Whenever we listened to the stories of our Grandmothers, every story was  interesting, exciting and many times we were made to feel part of the character itself. 

One such story ‘Nagarathinam’ that always thrilled me , is the story about the snake gem, cobra pearl. 

Every one knows about  gem / diamond – the precious, dazzling stone. But my Grandma narrated about a mythical pearl, most precious and uncommon 'Gem' that the cobra snakes are said to possess.

She told me how people used to get this rare pearl Nagarathinam ( naga-cobra;  rathinam- gem)   from aged  cobras. When a cobra happens to live its entire life span without exhausting much of its poison,  it converts into a kind of hard solid material which possesses radiation, light emitting properties.  Such snakes will only come out during a dark night on a no moon day, using this stone on vomiting , the half blind  snake will find & attract its preys to fall into its domain of hunt. 

People waiting to fetch such wonderful gem-stone, hide themselves behind a tree,used to throw cow dung on it and mask the dazzling reflection  to fool the snake, and next day morning they procure such a wonderful stone, which is really hard to find.

As a kid I was really thrilled by the story and that made me to feel that such people were very brave and great. But I never knew at that age that I would be one day handling such snakes as my patients. 

I was so curious to see such stones whether it really existed when I happened to do necropsy on fully lived snakes.  I did find some fragments of stones, just stones which is common for animals with salivary gland. Yes they are simple calcareous particles and has no values. 

Sialolithiasis refers to the formation of stones in the salivary glands. When the secretions of any exocrine gland that communicates through a duct gets stagnated due to any reason say obstruction or blockage, it becomes pathological. The nidus of the 'stone' is usually crystalline and if left alone, it gets layered by the gland’s inspisated secretion and inflammatory exudates, including cellular debris. Any animal that has a functional salivary gland including humans, are prone for sialoliths.

I could realise that it was just a bed time story & snake-pearls to be a myth.

Let us discuss more in next week, Bye!