{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreiewpqt3j6tnophlfnmghmomntip3u4gtil2gpli3zf4dkxm3zg5oy",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:5tifsg4pg5v4lpfach3kedsm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mks6b7jir6m2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreifqijzmezscexegf26drhilsvbmm5x3gtqjedzsus5eiwmf7wkjrm"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/png",
    "size": 1340528
  },
  "path": "/2026/04/refuting-creationism-giant-50-foot.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-30T16:19:00.004Z",
  "site": "http://rosarubicondior.blogspot.com",
  "tags": [
    "50-foot ancient snake discovered in India may be one of the largest ever | ScienceDaily",
    "published in Scientific Reports",
    "here",
    "original Springer Nature press release",
    "Datta, D., Bajpai, S.  Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal. Sci Rep 14, 8054 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58377-0",
    "http://www.corel.com/en/",
    "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)",
    "Click for My Books",
    "Tweet Link",
    "Oxfam"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n_Vasuki indicus_ ,\nNāgarāja (Serpent King) of Hindu mythology\n\nAI-generated image (ChatGPT 5.4 Thinking)\n\n\n\n\nA colossal prehistoric snake, _Vasuki indicus_ , may have rivaled the largest snakes in history, stretching up to 50 feet long. Fossils from India suggest it was a slow-moving ambush predator and part of a widespread ancient snake lineage.\n\n\n\nCredit: AI/ScienceDaily.com.\n\n50-foot ancient snake discovered in India may be one of the largest ever | ScienceDaily\n\nAn open access paper published in Scientific Reports in 2024 describes an astonishing giant snake from India which, in life, may have reached up to about 50 feet in length. Ignoring, for the moment, the inconvenient age of the fossils, its existence bears an eerie superficial resemblance to the mythical Hindu serpent king, Vasuki.\n\nImagine the unbounded joy and celebration there would be if creationists were finally presented with fossil evidence that appeared to confirm one of their favourite myths, giving them something more tangible than the written-down stories of Bronze Age pastoralists.\n\nStrangely, though, there have been no such celebrations over evidence which, superficially at least, appears to echo Hindu mythology. It is almost as though creationists understand perfectly well that religious myths are just that — myths — and that any evidence which appears to support someone else’s mythology can be dismissed without a second thought. Unless, of course, it happens to be their own mythology, in which case coincidence, metaphor and wishful thinking are suddenly promoted to “evidence”.\n\nNamed by its discoverers _Vasuki indicus_ , the snake is estimated to have been between about 11 and 15 metres long, making it one of the largest snakes ever known. The genus name comes from Vasuki, the great serpent king of Hindu mythology, often depicted coiled around the neck of Shiva. Vasuki is one of the mythological nāgas associated with serpent worship, including the Hindu festival of Naga Panchami.\n\nHowever, as a supposed source of the Vasuki myth, there is one small snag: _Vasuki indicus_ lived about 47 million years ago, in the early Middle Eocene, a mere 19 million years after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that ended the reign of the non-avian dinosaurs. That is long before humans, long before language, long before writing, and long before any culture capable of inventing and transmitting religious mythology existed. Like all religious mythology, the stories of Vasuki arose much later in human history — not in the Eocene swamps of India, and certainly not as a folk memory of a snake that had vanished tens of millions of years before there were any people to remember it.\n\nThe fossil vertebrae of _Vasuki indicus_ were discovered in the Panandhro Lignite Mine in Kutch, Gujarat State, western India, and described by Debajit Datta and Sunil Bajpai of the Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. The remains consist of 27 mostly well-preserved vertebrae, some still articulated, from what appears to have been a fully grown animal. The authors identify it as a member of the extinct madtsoiid snake family and suggest that it represents a distinctive Indian lineage of large-bodied snakes. ([EurekAlert!][2])\n\nThe accompanying Springer Nature news release, reproduced by EurekAlert!, is available here. The original Springer Nature press release is accessible to accredited journalists only.\n\n\n\n> Vasuki, the Serpent King of Hindu Mythology. Vasuki, or Vāsuki, is one of the great nāgas — the semi-divine serpent beings of Indian religious mythology. In Hindu tradition he is commonly described as a serpent king, or nāgarāja, and is closely associated with Shiva, one of the major deities of Hinduism. In many depictions, Vasuki is shown coiled around Shiva’s neck, where the serpent becomes a symbol of power, danger mastered, and divine control over death and fear.\n>\n>  Vasuki also plays a famous role in the myth of the _Samudra Manthana_ , the “Churning of the Ocean of Milk”. In that story, the gods and anti-gods, or devas and asuras, seek _amrita_ , the nectar of immortality. Mount Mandara is used as the churning rod, while Vasuki is used as the living rope wound around it. As the two sides pull back and forth, the cosmic ocean is churned and various miraculous substances emerge, including the deadly poison _halahala_ , which Shiva consumes to save creation. [1]\n>\n>  The name chosen for the fossil snake, _Vasuki indicus_ , is therefore a deliberate reference to one of the most powerful serpent figures in Hindu mythology. The comparison is poetic rather than historical: the fossil snake lived about 47 million years ago, tens of millions of years before humans, language, writing or religion existed. The name reflects the animal’s immense size and Indian origin, not any real connection between the extinct Eocene snake and the much later mythology of ancient India.\n>\n>  This makes _Vasuki indicus_ a good example of how scientists often use mythology, literature or local culture when naming newly discovered species, while still keeping the science firmly grounded in evidence. The mythological Vasuki belongs to the world of human imagination; the fossil _Vasuki_ belongs to the deep-time history of life on Earth.\n\n> Palaeontology: Discovery of new ancient giant snake in India\n>\n> * * *\n>\n> A new ancient species of snake dubbed _Vasuki Indicus_ , which lived around 47 million years ago in the state of Gujarat in India, may have been one of the largest snakes to have ever lived, suggests new research published in _Scientific Reports_. The new species, which reached an estimated length of between 11 and 15 metres, was part of the now extinct madtsoiidae snake family, but represented a distinct lineage that originated in India.\n>\n> * * *\n>\n> Debajit Datta and Sunil Bajpai describe a new specimen recovered from the Panandhro Lignite Mine, Kutch, Gujarat State, India, which dates to the Middle Eocene period, approximately 47 million years ago. The new species is named _Vasuki indicus_ after the mythical snake round the neck of the Hindu deity Shiva and in reference to its country of discovery, India. The authors describe 27 mostly well-preserved vertebra, some of which are articulated, which appear to be from a fully-grown animal.\n>\n>  The vertebrae measure between 37.5 and 62.7 millimetres in length and 62.4 and 111.4 millimetres in width, suggesting a broad, cylindrical body. Extrapolating from this, the authors estimate that _V. indicus_ may have reached between 10.9 and 15.2 metres in length. This is comparable in size to the longest known snake to have ever lived, the extinct _Titanoboa_ , although the authors highlight the uncertainty around these estimates. They further speculate that _V. indicus_ ’s large size made it a slow-moving, ambush predator akin to an anaconda.\n>\n>  The authors identify _V. indicus_ as belonging to the madtsoiidae family, which existed for around 100 million years from the Late Cretaceous to the Late Pleistocene and lived in a broad geographical range including Africa, Europe, and India. They suggest that _V. indicus_ represents a lineage of large madtsoiids that originated in the Indian subcontinent and spread via southern Europe to Africa during the Eocene, approximately 56 to 34 million years ago.\n>\n>  Publication:\n>\n>> Datta, D., Bajpai, S.  Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal. Sci Rep 14, 8054 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58377-0\n>\n>\n>  Show publication details\n\n\n\n\n> Abstract\n>  Here we report the discovery of fossils representing partial vertebral column of a giant madtsoiid snake from an early Middle Eocene (Lutetian, ~ 47 Ma) lignite-bearing succession in Kutch, western India. The estimated body length of ~ 11–15 m makes this new taxon (_Vasuki indicus_ gen et sp. nov.) the largest known madtsoiid snake, which thrived during a warm geological interval with average temperatures estimated at ~ 28 °C. Phylogenetically, Vasuki forms a distinct clade with the Indian Late Cretaceous taxon _Madtsoia pisdurensis_ and the North African Late Eocene _Gigantophis garstini_. Biogeographic considerations, seen in conjunction with its inter-relationship with other Indian and North African madtsoiids, suggest that Vasuki represents a relic lineage that originated in India. Subsequent India-Asia collision at ~ 50 Ma led to intercontinental dispersal of this lineage from the subcontinent into North Africa through southern Eurasia.\n>\n>\n>\n> Figure 1\n>\n> Geological map of Kutch Basin showing fossil locality (**a**); stratigraphic column at Panandhro Lignite Mine showing the position of madtsoiid snake-yielding horizon with age diagnostic dinoflagellate cyst assemblage and δ13C curve marking hyperthermal event ETM2 (modified after Agrawal et al.23) (**b**); panoramic view of the fossil site (**c**). Map and stratigraphic column were drawn by D.D. using CorelDRAW 2019 (Version number: 21.0.0.593, URL link: http://www.corel.com/en/). ETM2 age estimate after Westerhold et al.24.\n>\n> * * *\n>\n> Figure 2\n>\n> Anterior trunk vertebrae of _Vasuki indicus_. IITR/VPL/SB 3102-3, partial vertebra in anterior view (**a**); posterior view (**b**); left lateral view (**c**); dorsal view (**d**); ventral view (**e**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-5, complete vertebra in anterior view (**f**); posterior view (**g**); left lateral view (**h**); dorsal view (**i**); ventral view (**j**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-7I-II, partial vertebra in anterior view (**k**); posterior view; (**l**); left lateral view (**m**); dorsal view (**n**); ventral view (**o**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-6, complete posterior anterior trunk vertebra in anterior view (**p**); posterior view (**q**); left lateral view (**r**); dorsal view (**s**); ventral view (**t**). Grey arrows indicate anterior direction. Red arrowheads and arrows indicate fossae on neural spinal base and endozygantral foramina, respectively. Roman numerals on figures (**m–o**) refer to individual vertebrae in articulated specimens where ‘I” is towards the anterior. White arrowhead and arrow indicate fossa medial to diapophysis and foramen on dorsal surface of neural arch. _co_ cotyle, _cn_ condyle, _da_ diapophysis, _hyp_ hypapophysis, _izr_ interzygapophyseal ridge, _msf_ median shaft, nc neural canal, _nrl_ neural arch lamina, _ns_ neural spine, _pa_ parapophysis, _pcof_ paracotylar foramen, _pcofo_ paracotylar fossa, _pcon_ paracotylar notch, _po_ postzygapophysis, _pr_ prezygapophysis, _psl_ prespinal lamina, _pzgf_ parazygantral foramen, _pzgfo_ parazygantral fossa, _scf_ subcentral foramen, _scfo_ subcentral fossa, _zg_ zygantrum, _zs_ zygosphene. Scale bar represents 50 mm.\n>\n> Figure 3\n>\n> Precloacal vertebrae of Vasuki indicus. IITR/VPL/SB 3102-10I-II, complete posterior anterior trunk/mid-trunk vertebrae in anterior view (**a**); posterior view (**b**); right lateral view (**c**); dorsal view (**d**); ventral view (**e**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-9I-II, partial mid-trunk vertebrae in anterior view (**f**); posterior view (**g**); left lateral (reversed) view (**h**); dorsal view (**i**); ventral view (**j**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-4, nearly-complete mid-trunk vertebra in anterior view (**k**); posterior view; (**l**); left lateral (reversed) view (**m**); dorsal view (**n**); ventral view (**o**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-8I-II, partial mid-trunk vertebrae in anterior view (**p**); posterior view (**q**); right lateral view (**r**); dorsal view (**s**); ventral view (**t**). IITR/VPL/SB 3102-11I-III, partial mid-trunk vertebrae in posterior view (**u**); right lateral view (**v**); dorsal view (**w**); ventral view (**x**). Grey arrows indicate anterior direction. Roman numerals on figures (**c–e,h–j,r–t,v–w**) refer to individual vertebrae in articulated specimens where ‘I” is towards the anterior. Pink and white arrows indicate fossae and foramen on lateral surface of centrum, respectively. Red arrow indicates endozygantral foramen. White arrowheads indicate paired protuberance on ventral median shaft. _co_ cotyle, _cn_ condyle, _da_ diapophysis, _hyp_ hypapophysis, _izr_ interzygapophyseal ridge, _msf_ median shaft, _nc_ neural canal, _nrl_ neural arch lamina, _ns_ neural spine, _pa_ parapophysis, _pcof_ paracotylar foramen, _pcofo_ paracotylar fossa, _po_ post-zygapophysis, _pr_ prezygapophysis, _psl_ prespinal lamina, _scf_ subcentral foramen, _scfo_ subcentral fossa, _zg_ zygantrum, _zs_ zygosphene. Scale bar represents 50 mm.\n>\n>\n>\n>\n>\n> Datta, D., Bajpai, S.  Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal. Sci Rep 14, 8054 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58377-0\n>\n>  Copyright: © 2024 The authors.\n>  Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.\n>  Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)\n\nThe irony, of course, is that _Vasuki indicus_ is not evidence for Hindu mythology any more than a fossil whale would be evidence for Jonah, or a fossil tree for Eden. The name is a cultural reference, not a scientific claim. Scientists often borrow names from mythology because they are memorable, poetic or locally appropriate; they do not thereby turn folklore into palaeontology.\n\nWhat the fossil really shows is something far more interesting than mythology: that, 47 million years ago, India’s warm Eocene wetlands were home to an enormous snake, probably occupying the role of a top predator in a lush, tropical ecosystem. Its existence is explained not by ancient religious stories, but by comparative anatomy, geology, stratigraphy, evolutionary relationships and the patient work of palaeontologists studying fossil vertebrae from a lignite mine in Gujarat.\n\nAnd that is where the contrast with creationism becomes unavoidable. When a fossil appears to echo someone else’s mythology, creationists have no difficulty recognising coincidence, symbolism and poetic naming. Yet when a story from their own tradition is involved, the same standards are abruptly abandoned and resemblance is inflated into “confirmation”. That is not evidence-based reasoning; it is special pleading.\n\n_Vasuki indicus_ belongs not to the age of gods and legends, but to the Eocene history of life on Earth — tens of millions of years before humans existed to invent gods, write scriptures or tell stories about cosmic serpents. The mythological Vasuki is a product of human imagination; the fossil _Vasuki_ is a product of evolution, deep time and the sedimentary record. One belongs in mythology. The other belongs in science.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n\n\n\n\n**Advertisement**\n\n\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$14.20 UK\n£11.20\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$14.15 UK\n£11.20\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$12.90 UK\n£10.00\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$16.00 UK\n£12.60\n\n\n\n\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$12.50UK\n£9.30\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$12.00UK\n£9.93\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$12.50UK\n£10.00\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$10.50UK\n£8.30\n\n\n\n\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$12.00UK\n£10.00\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$15.00UK\n£12.29\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$7.50UK\n£5.75\n\n**Amazon** USA\n$10.20UK\n£8.30\n\n\n**All titles available in paperback, hardcover, ebook for Kindle and audio format.**\n\n**Prices correct at time of publication. Click here for current prices.**\n\n\n\n**Advertisement**\n\nClick for My Books\n\n\n\n### Thank you for sharing!\n\n\n\n\nTweet Link\n\nBlue Sky\n\n  \n\nFlip to Flipboard\n\n\n\n\n\nIf you've enjoyed my blog please show your appreciation by giving to a great cause - Oxfam\nBe Humankind. Feed the world.",
  "title": "Refuting Creationism - The Giant 50 Foot Snake Deity, Vasuki, of Hindu Mythology - The Fossil Evidence?",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-30T21:50:59.466Z"
}