Vedantic Tales: The Discipleship of
Sri Nag , The Cobra

The villagers were astonished to find that Sri Nag had arisen from the dead. The repugnant smell of fear once again affronted his tongue, and deliberately he would take on the appearance of a majestic Terror, lifting his fore body to its full height, stretching his fearsome hood to its full width, and hissing loudly. The sound was like water poured over live, unquenchable embers; he alone knew that those embers had lost their power to burn. The villagers, including the boys, kept their distance, understanding that the cobra was not to be trifled with. But they also understood though this understanding took more time that if they did not harm him or his family, he would not harm them. He had changed. They began to look upon Sri Nag as their cobra, their sacred Cobra; they treated him with great respect, amounting almost to veneration. The Shiva Linga was reinstalled in the ancient temple, and offerings of milk and ghee, which the Nag infants partook of as holy prasad, were made to it, as in times long past. The mouse and frog population rapidly diminished; the ponds filled again with fish, and the farmers' storage bins with rice and grain. The villagers prospered, and, often visibly to Sri Nag, Lord Shiva danced in the field.

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