Worship of Tejajî.
Another godling of the same kind is Tejajî, the Jât snake godling of Mârwâr. He is said to have lived about 900 years ago. One day he noticed that a Brâhman’s cow was in the habit of going to a certain place in the jungle, where milk fell from her udder into the hole of a snake. Teja agreed to supply the snake daily with milk, and thus save the Brâhman from loss. Once when he was preparing to visit his father-in-law, he forgot the compact, and the snake appearing, declared that it was necessary that he should bite Teja. He stipulated for permission first to visit his father-in-law, to which the snake agreed. Teja proceeded on his journey, and on the way rescued the village cattle from a gang of robbers, but was desperately wounded in the encounter. Mindful of his promise, he with difficulty presented himself to the snake, who, however, could find no spot to bite, as Teja had been so grievously wounded by the robbers. Teja therefore put out his tongue, which the snake bit, and so he died. He is now a protector against snake-bite, and is represented as a man on horseback, while a snake is biting his tongue.66 Tejajî and Gûga, as snake godlings, thus rank with Bhajang, the snake godling of Kâthiawâr, who is a brother of Sesha Nâga, and with Mânasâ, the goddess of Bengal, who is the sister of Vâsuki, the wife of Jaratkâru, and mother of Astikâ, whose intervention saved the snake race from destruction by Janamejâya.67