I was at the top of one of the temples of Bagan to watch the sun set over the plain, and I got to talking with a mule-cart driver who was there waiting for his passengers. I asked him if there were many snakes in Bagan, because I'd earlier seen one dead on the road (above). The mule driver said yes, many snake, but no problem. Why, I asked. He told me that when he was very young, he had been bitten by a snake. His parents had rushed him to the doctor, and he had survived. Afterwards, they took him to see a Buddhist master, who gave him a magical tattoo, some faint, spidery red lines between his shoulder-blades and on the tops of his wrists:
Now that he has them, he is immune from snakebite. He can't kill snakes, for to do so would break the spell, but they can't harm him and will even stop in their tracks if he so commands them. If, like me, you're petrified of snakes and considering getting one of these tattoos, be warned that after it's done the Buddhist master will demand that you put your hand into a box full of venomous snakes "so that you believe him". And his studio will probably look something like this inviting setup, spotted in the streets of Yangon:
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