Worshipping Snakes

Overview article in 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Unknown (prob Hargrave Jennings) - Ophiolatreia (1889)
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Charles Frederick Oldham - The Sun and the Serpent: A Contribution to the History of Serpent-Worship (1905)
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John Bathurst Deane - The Worship of the Serpent Traced Throughout the World (1833)
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Joseph Fayrer - On Serpent-worship and on the Venomous Snakes of India (1892)
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Wilfrid Dyson Hambly - Serpent Worship in Africa (1931)
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E.G. Squier - The Serpent Symbol, and the Worship of the Reciprocal Principles of Nature in America (1851)
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John Samuel Phené - On Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship (1875)
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Some anthropologists and enthusiastic travellers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were fascinated by the sheer variety of religious practices, devoting a lot of time to collecting information and hypothesizing links.  The big idea, at least in my superficial understanding, was roughly that it's all of one big piece, not exactly that all religions are the same but that they're at least similar and it's worthwhile mapping a lot of links between them.  The Golden Bough is the best known result of this but there are plenty of others, if not quite so massive (or so entertaining). 

This week's post is a collection of books from this period about serpent worship.  Some are fairly straight forward accounts while others wade right into the comparative religion aspects that I suspect don't hold up today.

The first link is to the article from the famous 1911 edition of the Britannica because it gives a good overview and is mostly contemporary with the books.

Ophiolatreia was anonymously published but is considered to be the work of Hargrave Jennings (1817-1890), an esotericist and Rosicrucian who was obsessed with the idea that religion is basically phallic worship. Or maybe sun worship too - I'll admit to not being able to get very far into his stuff.

By contrast,  John Bathurst Deane (1797-1887) was a schoolmaster and Anglican clergyman.  He also married the daughter of John Lemprière (of the dictionary fame).  Deane ties serpent worship into Christian belief, probably not much more plausibly than Jennings.

Didn't find much about Charles Frederick Oldham except that he was a British naval surgeon serving in India during the 1870s.  The book is based on some of his experiences there and due to the date I'd guess was written during retirement.

Wilfrid Dyson Hambly (1886-1962) worked at the Field Museum and published several similar works, probably the most recognizable is The History of Tattooing which has been reprinted by Dover.

E.G. Squier (1821-1888) was a New York archaeologist and journalist who worked in the Mississippi Valley and Central America.  There's a 2005 biography of him by Terry A. Barnhart.

John Samuel Phené (1822-1912) was a British architect and antiquarian who published several pamphlets - this appears to be his most substantial work.  There's an interesting blog post with a photo of an amazing house he designed.  (Another image is here.)

St Thomas Christians

Adolphus E. Medlycott - India and the Apostle Thomas (1905)

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Edavalikel Philipos - The Syrian Christians of Malabar: otherwise called the Christians of S. Thomas (1869)

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Richard Collins - Missionary Enterprise in the East, with especial reference to the Syrian Christians of Malabar (1873)

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Michael Geddes - The History of the Church of Malabar (1694)
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W.J. Richards - The Indian Christians of St. Thomas : otherwise called the Syrian Christians of Malabar (1908)

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The way I heard the story is that late in the 15th century Vasco de Gama made his first major voyage, intending to open new trade routes to India.  In 1498 he landed on the southwestern tip of India (modern Kerala) and was surprised to discover that there was already a thriving community of Christians there, moreover ones practicing older beliefs.  In my mind I somewhat imagined this like the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the knights reach a castle, ask if the inhabitants want to join the quest for the Grail, and are dumbfounded to receive the answer that the inhabitants already have one.

This group is called St Thomas Christians after the story that the apostle Thomas visited in 52 CE and established their church.  (They're also called Syrian Christians after early Syriac speakers who immigrated and settled there.)  Though the story about Thomas seems likely to not be true there's just enough plausible evidence that it can't be dismissed out of hand.  There are even claims that his tomb is nearby - you can visit it (or at least one possibility).  Vasco's landing prompted the arrival of priests a couple of years later which threw the St Thomas Christians, who were fully organized and well functioning, into turmoil that seems to have never entirely settled.  You can read a recap at the Brittanica or a detailed one with more history and theology at the Catholic Encyclopedia.

In any case, the story I heard was only part of it.  The St Thomas Christians weren't completely unknown in Europe since there had been European visitors in late antiquity and the middle ages.  Marco Polo even made a short report about them and there were Church travellers in the 14th century.  In fact I have a suspicion that the Vasco story may not be completely accurate because I've only seen it repeated in second-hand sources but don't have time to check biographies or the voyage journals.  There should be much more detail in N.M. Mathew's St. Thomas Christians of Malabar through Ages: A Fresh Look into Biblical and Historical Evidences (2003), Benedict Vadakkekara's Origin of India's St Thomas Christians: A Historiographical Critique (1995), Peter C. Phan's Christianities in Asia (2011), Em nome de Deus: The Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama to India, 1497-1499 (2009, edited by Glenn J. Ames) and Nigel Cliff's The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco de Gama (2011).