Serpent lore and symbols of deity

...altered to that of the male, as seen in the Greek and Roman fables mentioned above.

The serpent, although dethroned, was a deity that died hard. Divine honors were paid to it in some parts of Europe as late as the 16th century. The living snake is still worshipped in southern India, and the cult is spreading despite the strenuous efforts of authorities to suppress it. At the Nag Panchami Festival A traditional Hindu festival worshipping snakes, Hindus daub the lairs of snakes with vermilion and turmeric and hang up garlands of flowers. They also bring offerings of milk. The women join hands and circle the area seven times while singing, after which they prostrate themselves in adoration. No Hindu will willingly kill a cobra. If one is killed by a Muslim, a copper coin is placed in its mouth and its body is burned with offerings of atonement. At Sanchi An ancient Buddhist complex in India famous for its Great Stupa, the worship of the Naga a serpent deity, or cobra, is depicted in the sculptures.

The name of the sacred Sanskrit script, Devanāgarī—the "Alphabet of the Gods"—is derived from Nāga (snake) and not from Nāga (city), although many modern linguists deny this in defiance of the rules of poetic meter. Snake worship is closely linked to Buddhism and largely fell alongside it. There seems to be a fear among the Brahmans of its revival, because it is popular among simple, unpretentious people and is hostile to rigid creeds and the caste system. Deep down in the human heart lies a craving for the simple life, for a closer touch with nature, and for a neighborly feeling that enhances joy and shares sorrow.

However, these are the benefits of a primitive community and cannot meet the requirements of an expanding civilization. Poets and enthusiasts still dream of a Golden Age which, according to ancient mythology, coincided with the reign of Saturn, whose wife was Ops Roman goddess of fertility and earth, a name signifying both "plenty" and "the serpent." But when the sceptered rule of Jupiter prevailed, the promptings of natural affection were lost to the regulations necessary for maintaining a highly organized State—with its "rigorous iron laws, the insanely litigious legal profession, and the public courts," which Virgil mentioned with disgust in the Georgics.

A similar thought seems to inspire the magnificent statuary known as the Gigantomachy of Pergamon original: "Gigantomachia"; a frieze depicting the battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants, representing the battle between the Olympian deities and the giants of the earth, some of whom have lower limbs shaped like serpents. Zeus with his thunderbolts, aided by Athena, is dashing the Titans to pieces when Gaea original: "Ge", the Earth Goddess, rises from the ground as if appealing for mercy on behalf of her sons. Being earth-born and mortal, they are by nature incapable of reaching the standard of the immortal gods.

This allegory appears to represent the gap between the absolute and the relative. No sooner is a general law formulated than some mitigation must be found to meet the needs of human nature and the ever-changing conditions of time, place, and circumstance; otherwise, the "dead hand" of the past stifles the life of the present. Human nature and the law eventually come into conflict. Actions that are innocent—