Pythons, a ‘Magic’ Mound, and the Mullukurumba

The Mullukurumba tribe lives in the lower forest ranges of Wayanad and Kerala. They were originally hunters, but they never hunted for sport; only for food. Gradually, over the years as hunting came to be banned, the Mullukurumbas shifted to practising agriculture.

Veliyamuthan is the elder or head of Karikunnu village which is nestled in the forest. As a young man, he had led most of the hunts of the Mullukurumbas. He, like many of his tribe, knows everything there is to know about the animals in the surrounding jungle. He no longer hunts, but is a storehouse of knowledge about the forest and the animals that live in them. One day, when he was resting under a jackfruit tree, some children came running excitedly.

Children: Muthachen (grandpa), muthachen, come and see. We found a magic mound of grass!

Veliyamuthan: What? Why is it magic?

Children: We were playing and sat on this mound to take some rest and the mound moved! It's alive, it’s alive! Come muthachen, come, we will show you.

Veliyamuthan immediately knew what it was but he pretended to be as amazed as the children. Taking his hand, they led him into the forest. And sure enough, there was this mound of grass and if you watched closely you could see it move.

Children: What is it muthachen? Is there a spirit inside? Is it a magic mound? Veliyamuthan realised it was time to explain to the children one more fascinating titbit of knowledge of the forest and its animals. He calmed the children down and led them a little distance away under the shade of another jackfruit tree.

Veliyamuthan: Come and sit around here, children, and I will tell you about the magic mound that moves.

Children: So, it really is magic?

Veliyamuthan: Well, yes and no. Mother Nature does things that seem magical to us humans, but actually they are a part and parcel of how everything is.

Children: But tell us what is the magic that makes the mound move! I think there is a spirit hiding inside. I think the mound is actually a living being. But it has no legs, no eyes—how can it move? It has to be magic!

The children kept coming up with various theories to explain the mystery of the moving mound. Veliyamuthan quietened them.

Veliyamuthan: I will explain everything, but first you have to promise me you will sit still and be very, very quiet. If you do, you will see something truly amazing.

The children were quiet instantly and didn't move a muscle. Their eyes were transfixed on to their magic mound. And even as they watched, the mound started wriggling around even more. Slowly a head appeared, followed by a body, sliding and slithering and finally with a big twist it shook off all the mud and grass. It was a SNAKE! A very long and very big snake! A PYTHON!

The children gasped. They could not believe their eyes. Veliyamuthan plucked a ripe jackfruit, cut it open, and started feeding the children as he continued with his story.

Veliyamuthan: When a python swallows a big animal like a deer, it takes very long to digest it; because its stomach becomes so big, it cannot move around easily. So it curls up and lies down very quietly in one place till all the food is digested.

Children: And how long does that take muthachen?

“Guess,” asked Veliyamuthan. The children guessed – a day? Three days? A week? To all their guesses, he just shook his head.

Veliyamuthan: Sometimes it can be as long as a month, even more…

The children could not believe what they were hearing. A month in one place? Without moving?

Veliyamuthan: But look at the python. Can you see how slowly she is moving? That is because she has become too heavy. All her food has become fat since she has had no exercise for so long… Do you know that her fat is very good medicine? When a python is full of fat, we gently trap it by pinning it down to the ground with Y shaped sticks. The python cannot move. We then take a very thin sharp piece of bamboo. But we are careful to take the piece from inside the bamboo and not from the outside. Do you know why?

The children shook their heads.

Veliyamuthan: Because the outside can be dirty and have a lot of germs and bacteria. On the inside, it will be pure and sterile. We use the piece of bamboo like a blade and gently slice just the skin of the python near its stomach. Under the skin you will find the fat that looks like a necklace of beads. We pull this out completely. Then we make small needles from the bamboo. From the inside or outside?”

Children (shouting in unison): From the inside!

Veliyamuthan: Yes. And then we join the skin back with these needles. It’s like stapling the skin back. In a few days the cut will heal and the skin will rejoin.

Children: But what about the fat, muthachen?

Veliyamuthan: Ah, we melt it and store it. And we use it as a medicine for healing wounds and for skin problems and many other ailments.

Children: Is that what is on the shelf at home? Along with the other bottles?

Veliyamuthan: Yes, animals give us a lot of things. So, we should learn to live with animals. Instead of killing the python, we do an operation!! And the python lives on.

In fact, you know what my grandfather used to tell me? He said that the python is very happy when we remove the fat because after the operation it can move easily and faster. And so every time it has eaten a big animal and has a lot of fat and finds it difficult to move, it comes to our village and waits for us to do another operation!!!

Children: But muthachen there is one bottle at home which has some stinky stuff. What is that?

Veliyamuthan: The stinky one is from the porcupine. Ah, but that’s another story. It’s late now. Let’s go home. And they all walked back to the village filled with the wonders and mysteries of nature. One of the children, a little girl, summed up everyone’s thoughts when she said, “we have so much to learn from nature”.