A Snake-Charmer

John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911)

1891

Illustration for Beast and Man in India, p. 353

Apart from the decorated initial, this is the only illustration for Chapter XV, "Of Reptiles," in which Kipling explores the "ingrained respect for serpent life" in India (344). He has already treated the subject of animal training, showing how cheetahs were trained to hunt, bears to dance, and so on, and here declares that "it is only in India that the reptile under the rock has retainers" (352). [Commentary continues below.]

Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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