24 - Microvitum in a Nutshell

Microvitum in a Nutshell [a compilation]

Chapter 13

Smell and Microvita
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Excerpt A

Gandhagokula. Gandha + gokula. Gandhagokula means “any living creature which emits a pleasant smell.” You know that there are certain living creatures which emit a kind of smell – whether pleasant or unpleasant – from their bodies. This is nothing but the secretion of a particular type of hormone from specific glands. Moles emit a foul smell from the secretions from the hormones of their glands. When moles move, a kind of foul smelling secretion which seems repulsive to the human nose is emitted from certain lymphatic glands in their bodies. The repulsive smell that comes out of a tiger’s body does not come out of a cat’s body due to differences in the hormone secretions. Very little of this smell is emitted from the bodies of wild cats, and this sort of smell is not conspicuous in civet-cats, but the bodies of smaller creatures belonging to the same family emit this type of repulsive smell. The hyena, for example, though smaller than a tiger, emits this kind of foul smell.

In the case of any male animal, fluids from the glands emit a bad smell, but when those animals are castrated they do not emit such a smell. Hence, the good or bad smell of animals means the good or bad smell of the fluids secreted by their glands. In the case of billy-goats, the foul smell emitted from their bodies is very prominent, but in the case of a castrated billy-goat, this smell is conspicuously absent. Those who consume a lot of onions, garlic, [[d́áḿgár kalmii [land-growing kalmii],]] unchewed vegetable stems and tough meat are bound to emit a foul smell while secreting hormones from their glands. Those who are careful about the food they eat but do not allow themselves to perspire, will also smell bad. (Usually perspiration has no bad smell of its own, but if it is not washed off the body within about 45 minutes after it is emitted, it putrefies and creates a foul smell. This is why it is best to wash one’s body immediately after one perspires, or rub the body with a towel.)

The physical bodies of those who practise sádhaná or do a lot of kiirtana (devotional chanting) secrete fluids from certain parts of the Anáháta Cakra, Vishuddha Cakra and Ájiṋa Cakra. The smell of these secretions is somewhat, but not exactly, like a light smell of jasmine flower or ripe jackfruit. The bodies of those with a devotional nature or who regularly practise yoga usually emit this kind of fragrance. In fact, the emission of a sweet aroma is one of the criteria for ascertaining the degree of one’s devotion to God. If a person sits for a while in a lonely place and tries to feel the presence of Parama Puruśa, one senses something like a sweet, light smell. This is nothing but the accumulation of an aromatic secretion on the tip of the nose. Although this experience is purely physiological, what else can it be called except an expression of divine grace?

There are a few creatures whose bodies by nature emit a smell like the fragrance of bádshábhog or káńt́háliibhog (popular Indian varieties of fine rice used for preparing sweet delicacies). Gandhagokulas are such creatures. These wild animals are between a fox and a mole. Like owls, they cannot see clearly in broad daylight – they are almost day-blind – but they are not night-blind. As a rule, their visual capacity is very limited during the day, and in addition they do not dare to come out openly during the daytime due to fear of dogs. When they come out at night and sit somewhere for five or ten minutes, the next day that place will remain full of the smell of scented sun- dried rice for a long time.

The gandhagokula is a creature of Ráŕh (that part of Bengal to the west of the Bhágirathi river extending up to the Párasnath Hills). There was a time when these creatures were found in abundance in Burdwan, Midnapore, Bankura and Manbhum districts. The cruelty of human beings is accelerating the extinction of these historic creatures. They are very mild by nature, which is why people can easily kill them. If proper steps are not taken immediately to ensure their survival, they may vanish from the face of the earth in the near future.

Gandhasarpa. You know that although the cobra and the black cobra belong to the same genus, but they are of different species. Black cobras are comparatively thin, blackish and prefer to remain in jungles, bushes or the boundary ridges of fields, away from human habitation. Though their bodies are somewhat cool, their tempers are extremely hot. Their bodies do not emit a good smell; rather they emit a sort of pungent smell, perhaps due to their frayed temper… due to their easily excitable nerves. If one loses one’s temper, one may experience a kind of pungent smell from one’s body. Sometimes we get this type of pungent smell from the bodies of courageous people. If they are virtuous, their bodies emit a kind of sharp smell like that of many marigold flowers, but if they are not virtuous, they smell something like wet earth after a light shower in the early part of the rainy season.

One of the differences between the nature a cobra and a black cobra is that a cobra likes to live in houses, particularly in abandoned houses. While they do live in bushes, the jungle or on the embankments of ponds and water tanks, their favourite haunt is dilapidated houses. A black cobra is more poisonous than a cobra but less poisonous than a shaunkhacur (the biggest variety of cobra). A cobra does not usually attack people, but if somebody accidentally steps on one, it will strike in self- defence. In old age when its tail drops off, it finds it difficult to move, and in that state it does not hiss or strike at any creature. It survives on overripe bananas, worms, insects, milk and food rich in fat.

In rural Bengal these cobras are called “bástusáp” (meaning snakes which reside in human dwellings). There are many people who do not kill these snakes if they are living in their homes, however it is not wise to knowingly allow poisonous snakes to remain inside one’s house. Saha sarpeńa grhe na vásah. “You may do whatever you like with your enemies, but do not live under the same roof with them.” There are some people who leave overripe bananas, milk and other edibles in one corner of the house for snakes of this type. We say jokingly, “Milk and bananas for a good natured cobra.” As they grow old, cobras and black cobras secrete a certain kind of hormone from their bodies which smells like sun-dried rice. If you notice this kind of smell in any room of a house, you should look to see if there is a hole somewhere with a snake hiding in it. As a rule, snakes cannot make holes by themselves. They occupy rat holes either by devouring the rats or driving them away. Anyway, the type of cobra (káligokhro, padmagokhro, cakragokhro, etc.) which gives out a smell like that of sun-dried rice, is called “gandhasarpa”.

21 August 1988, Calcutta