SHAURYA SINGH THAPA
CHARMED SNAKES &
MUSIC SCALES:
A deeper look into the musical side of snake charming
The art of snake-charming apparently
took birth in Egypt, but as you all
might have guessed, its current form
is firmly rooted in India. It’s wrong
to even use the word ‘current’ for it,
as many hereditary snake-charmers
are slowly dying out like other Indian
street arts.
Still, even with a few of these ‘reptilian
Pied Pipers’, the sight of a snake
dancing to a sapera never fails to
amaze. Thanks to countless Indian
movies and TV shows cheap visual
effects, a particular tune (called the
naagin dance music) has become the
go-to tune of many a snake-charmer.
The trusted instrument which these
snake musicians play for this is the
pungi. The pungi’s can be anatomically
divided into the top and bottom. The
top is made of dried bottle gourds and
it’s’ the part from where the snake-
charmer hisses in his music. This is
connected to the other end, which has
two
pipes made of reed. One of these jivalas
(pipes) has a few holes in it and plays
the melody. might tend to bob its head aggressively
towards the wind instrument as if it’s
in ‘attack mode’.
As can be seen in their performances,
snakes do seem to get hypnotised with
this music and follow the directions
of the pungi. But do these slithering
creatures actually hear the music? The relationship between snakes
and Indian music isn’t just limited to
charming them. In fact, there’s a local
instrument called nagphani which
is a serpentine horn. Yes, it’s a horn
designed in the body of a snake and it
even sounds roughly like a snake!
Folk stories might agreesnake-
charmersbut science gives a solid no
in answer. Snakes do have senses to
pick up sounds but any layperson can
tell you no snake has distinct outer
ears like us. This is why they might
do the ‘naagin dance’ but it’s not them
grooving their heads (or hoods) to the
music.
The snakes simply follow the snake-
charmer’s hand movements with the
pungi. As herpetology (the science of
reptiles and amphibians) expert Robert
Drewes puts it simply, ‘He sways, the
snake sways.’.
Some even suggest that the captive
creatures see the pungi as a
potential predator. This
might explain why
sometimes, a
snake
Played in local festivals in Gujarat
and Garhwali dramas in Uttarakhand,
it’s usually made of brass and copper.
Unsurprisingly, it’s associated with
the Hindu god, Shiva, a deity so
snake-obsessed that even his jewellery
comprised of snakes coiled around his
neck.
For this reason, some sages in the
Kumbh Mela also play the nagphani
to welcome visitors. With a hooded
snake-like edge and a wavy structure,
it is clearly one of the most bizarre and
distinct music instruments.
Today, both the nagphani and pungi
are on the verge of extinction (although
you can find some manufactured
pungis on Amazon) like
many species of snakes.
But in some way or
other, their legacy
needs to be preserved
for this snake music
is a totally swadeshi
art which wouldn’t
be found in any
other corner of
the world.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
33