The Sun and the Serpent

About this book

A serpent curls beside the sun, and the pairing appears in temples, symbols and religious traditions scattered across the world. Charles F. Oldham explores the relationship through Indian beliefs and a wider comparative history.

His book investigates serpent worship, solar imagery and the religious significance given to these forms. The evidence is often interpreted through nineteenth-century assumptions, and some proposed connections are more speculative than demonstrated. The illustrations and collected examples show how powerfully two simple images have shaped human religious imagination.