"Be careful. I am death!": "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and Britons' "Great War" against Snakes in Late-Nineteenth-Century India

Abstract

Abstract:This article situates Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" (1894) in relation to the "Great War" that Britons waged against snakes in late-nineteenth-century India. It argues the tale is informed by two (linked) recognitions: that Britons may prove incapable either of "mastering" this species of the subcontinent's fauna or of protecting their children within the imperial realm.