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Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes)
“Two jila (snakes) travelling. Old Warnman men, maparn (magic) men sat down to sing these snakes to sleep. Then they brought out a stone axe to sneak up and kill them, both snakes. The fat part, snake fat, burned away and melted into Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). It’s still there today. This is a dreaming story. Old people tell it to me.”
– Cyril Whyoulter
Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) is one of the key jukurrpa (dreamtime) narratives for the Martu. Though the story belongs to Warnman people, it is shared across the Western Desert with several other language groups. The narrative centres on the travels of two snakes as they are pursued by the Niminjarra, spiritual ancestors of the Warnman people.
Before transforming themselves into snakes, the Jila Kujarra were young brothers. As snakes, they began travelling home to their mother, but were intercepted by the Niminjarra, who tracked the Jila Kujarra to Paji, east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). Here the Niminjarra tried to smoke the snakes out from a nearby cave, but the Jila Kujarra eluded their pursuers by escaping under the lake at Paji. However, the Jila Kujarra were soon after speared and injured by two Pukurti (initiates with bundled hair) at Nyayartakujarra, who returned with the Niminjarra to cook the snakes at Kumpupirntily (Lake Disappointment). As the Niminjarra cut down the length of the Jila Kujarra, the snake’s bladders were pierced, causing an explosion of scalding hot urine in which the Niminjarra all perished and became black rocks at the site. At the same time, the urine of the Jila Kujarra formed the vast salt lake, Kumpupirntily, which translates to ‘bladder burst’. The spirits of the Jila Kujarra returned to their mother at Nyayartakujarra, where the mother and her sons entered the ground below Nyayartakujarra and remain to this day.
