The sun rose over the Iruk-haat mountain range near the small, rural community of Konark. Carrying with it the chill of the night, the sun’s rays warmed the sultry air between the trees of the mountain range. The day was unseasonably hot. Birds, insects, all the wildlife of the area awoke with the sun.
The village of Konark sat nestled in the far border of the mountain range. It was a true community. A community, not a village or a town. It was a true community of people who shared a very deep connection to one another.
A community of faith, relationship, and compassion. A community of greater learning and generosity. A community of celibacy. A community of sacrifice and weeping. A community of penance and gloom. There was a community of lions and lions and lions and lions and lions and lions and lions and lions and lions and lions!
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to grow food for themselves and provide for their needs by themselves.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to work in the dry stone heaps for help for their day.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose main desires were to feed themselves and work in the dry stone heaps.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to feed themselves.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to work in the dry stone heaps.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to grow food for themselves.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to feed themselves.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to work in the dry stone heaps.
Culturally, it was a small-scale community whose members’ main occupations were to work in the dry stone heaps for help for their day.
The days went monotonously by for the small community of plains dwellers people. Every day, the sun rose and set over the dormant mountain range. But it would come back up and come back down. Every day, the sun would rise and set over the mountains, and every day, the moon and the stars went about their businesses.
At the beginning of one particular evening, while it was still light, while the sun was not yet over the mountain range, the pillar of fire became visible to the valley dwellers (for such is their term for such a phenomenon.) The community stayed their course, entering the dry stone heaps and working all day. Not far from where they worked in the dry stone heaps, a large king cobra lay comfortably in the shade of the giant stone. The cobra had simply appeared in the valley (for such is their term for such a phenomenon.)
The cobra must have been quite fearful, for he was humming and swaying his head in a similitude of concern. “What is your name, snake?” asked one of the tribe. “You are unlike any snake I have ever known. Plus, you are unlike any snake I have ever seen or heard tell of.”
The cobra remained silent for a moment, then said “Ehatrada,” is my name.”
“Ehatrada,” said the tribe member. “What is your purpose in the sun’s light?”
“My purpose in the sun’s light,” said the cobra, confidently. “I is the lord of the sun.”
“The lord of the sun?” questioned the tribe member. “How can you be lord of the sun?”
“I is the lord of the sun,” repeated the cobra. “I is the snake. I am don’t have time to spend on your week. Sometime I come down to see nighttime I-Hikuh-Tada. I-Hikuh-Tada is time for sun sleep. Sun sleep is what sun is doing. Sun sleeps between I-Hikuh-Tada and another I-Hikuh-Tada. No more week people. Week people is down below. I is the lord of the sun.”
As the cobra uttered those words, the colors swirled as if during a big set of fireworks. In a flash, the cobra disappeared from the valley. The tribe member asked, “You said ‘Ehatrada’. What is ‘Ehatrada’? For you cannot be a snake name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name. For a snake cannot have a name.