Mystery at the Railway Station: The Mantra, the Tree, and the Snakebite Miracle

It is a twisted, mangled tree on the narrow platforms of the Polliredipalem railway station, a dusty village station on the mainline that swings across the country from the north to the south of India.

It was part of a bewitching story that is forgotten.

On its branches were many strips of cloth. Each one is a reminder of a life saved by the man who tied it there. Pammula Narsayya was the station master. He was unlike most of the others who manned the thousands of tiny, non-descript stations in India. He had a gift that saved lives.

It is a story with very few mentions in records and one that sounds more like folklore than a recorded narrative.

It was said that if someone was bitten by a poisonous snake, a telegram was to be sent to the station. On receiving it, Narsayya would walk over to the tree, tear a piece out of his dress, and tie it to the tree while chanting a mantra. It has been widely reported that the patient would recover and be up and about in a few hours. The snake would, as per the stories, not survive. Some references are made to the treatment being done in response to phone calls and to the station, which was in those days the only place for phones. He is credited with treating many patients while he was working. He retired from the railways in the early 1960s.

It is said that Narsayya learned the mantra from a saint who had identified him as gifted and taught him the Garuda mantra (Garuda, in Hindu mythology, is a divine eagle-like bird who is the enemy of all serpents). Narsayya, it is said, once cured a high-ranking British Railway official who was bitten by a snake. The official gave him a job in the railways and instructed the nearest telegraph centre to open a hotline that would deliver telegrams from snake bite victims’ to the wizened station master for him to work the miracle.

Kenneth Anderson’s experience

It may sound like a story straight out of a fictional novel, but there are credible references that lend partial authenticity to this incredible tale. One of the most notable comes from Kenneth Anderson, a legendary wildlife expert and one of India’s most renowned hunters.

Kenneth Anderson, based in the picturesque hill station of Ooty in the Nilgiris range of Tamil Nadu, mentioned this intriguing mystery in one of his books. He recounts a routine day on his farm when he was bitten by a cobra he was handling. Immediately aware of the danger, Anderson rushed to the nearest medical facility to obtain the vital antivenom. Unfortunately, the first health center had no stock of the antidote, forcing him to travel further despite his worsening symptoms. Fortunately, Anderson found the lifesaving antivenom at a second medical outpost and administered it in time to save himself.

When Anderson returned home, one of his staff informed him that they had sent a telegram to the famed snake-healer, Pammula Narsayya. He received the news with skepticism, unsure whether such mystical intervention could have any real effect. But the story took an unexpected turn when he examined the cobra that had bitten him. To his astonishment, the snake was not only dead—it had already entered rigor mortis.

Though Anderson couldn’t definitively say what had cured him, he noted that rigor mortis in snakes typically takes over a day to set in. Yet this one had stiffened within mere hours. It was, perhaps, the closest anyone had come to a tangible sign of Narsayya’s mysterious powers.

It is a story lost in the mists of the past and with very few references , it might be one lost to time. It sounds crazy , but then the references, however few there are do give it a mystical colour.

A story that might sound like fantasy, but if even one man is saved, it is worthwhile.

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