Trusting in the mysterious healing power of snake parts
Trusting in the mysterious healing power of snake parts
Text and photos by Ahmad Solikhan
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The cobra bared its fangs, a warning that it
was angry and poised to expel its lethal venom. But there was no
trace of fear in Wagiyah's face as she grasped it firmly in her
right hand. Like an executioner, she raised the knife in her free
hand and stabbed the snake, cleanly draining its blood into a
glass.
It was all in a day's work for the 57-year-old alternative
healer. She uses the blood, gall, flesh and oil from up to 16
snakes daily to cure a host of ailments.
Her home at Dusun Mandungan in Marguluwih village near
Yogyakarta doubles as her practice. There is no sign outside and
she does not advertise in newspapers, but the curing powers of
her tonics are well known. Her 10 to 15 patients each day may
come from all over Java, Sumatra, Bali, East Timor and Irian
Jaya.
"The patients are usually people who have given up on
conventional medication, or people who can't afford the expensive
medical treatment provided by doctors," said the mother of four.
Different parts of the snake's body are believed to hold
individual curative powers. Flesh and oil are touted for skin
diseases and allergies.
The gall is considered a potent cure-all and is prescribed for
a cornucopia of complaints -- heart ailments, diabetes, high
blood pressure, asthma, uterine cancer, hernia, liver disease,
hemorrhoids, rheumatism, paralysis, epilepsy and infertility.
Wagiyah's brand of alternative medicine also draws in use of
traditional Javanese herbal remedies, or jamu, and her
supernatural powers. Some patients are healed in only one visit,
others over the course of three treatments.
"I spent many years going to a skin specialist to cure my skin
disease, but it never healed," says Ratna. The mother of three
said she spent heavily on doctors' bills before she decided to
see Wagiyah.
She says her disease was cured in just one visit to Wagiyah at
a cost of Rp 10,000. She drank a cobra's gall mixed with wine and
honey, and was instructed to apply cobra oil on her skin. Her
condition healed in several days.
There is no scientific proof of curative benefits of using
medicines made from reptiles, according to Bambang Sumiarto, a
veterinarian from the School of Veterinary Sciences, University
of Gadjah Mada. He said snake meat contains large amounts of
protein, carbohydrate, fat and minerals, but "this (medicinal)
power of the cobra is only a traditional believe".
Wagiyah has an elementary school education and followed in
the footsteps of her father, Jonawi, a famed healer in his
village. She began helping her father in his practice, always
sure that one day she would take over. But, unlike her father,
she decided to use her supernatural gift to help the sick.
Wagiyah is also careful in following dictates in maintaining
her powers. She fasts every Monday and Thursday, or eats only
fruits, vegetables or rice according to traditional Javanese
dietary proscriptions. She sometimes locks herself in self-
seclusion or goes a day without speaking. She visits sacred
burial grounds, including royal ones at Imogiri, to derive divine
inspiration.
She obtains the up to 600 cobras she uses each month from
dealers in Central and East Java. A member of the common cobra
species cost from Rp 5,000 to Rp 7,500 each, but a King Cobra is
priced between Rp 75,000 and Rp 125,000, the expense due to its
rarity and stronger healing powers.
No part of the snake is wasted. Skins are dried, to be sold to
shoe and bag manufacturers in Jakarta for Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,500
each. Leftover meat is dried and shredded for sale to local
supermarkets for Rp 7,000 per 10 grams. Cobra oil is sold in 50
ml bottles for Rp 5,000.
Even the cobras' heads are used, sold to local owners of
fighting cocks. "They believe the cobra's head can strengthen a
rooster's stamina," Wagiyah says.