Sarpa. In Hindu tradition a term applied by the Aryan settlers to the Indian indigenes. It means "creeping" or "crawling" and it was used in contempt of them as slithering along the forests like snakes.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

sarpá mf(ī)n. creeping, crawling stealing along Gaut. (cf. pīṭha-, vṛkṣa-s○)
• m. (ifc. f. ā) a snake, serpent, serpent-demon (cf. nāga
• sarpāṇām ayanam, 'a partic. annual festival'), tortuous motion RV. &c. &c
• a partic. constellation (when only the three unfavourable planets are situated in the three Kendras) VarBṛS
• Mesua Roxburghī L
• N. of one of the 11 Rudras MBh. of a Rākshasa VP
• (pl.) N. of a partic. tribe of Mlecchas (formerly Kshatriyas and described, is wearing beards) Hariv
• (ī), f. a female snake MBh
• N. of the wife of a Rudra ib
• n. = sapa-sāman, q.v. [Cf. Gk. ? Lat. [1184, 1] serpens
• See also under √srip.]

Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by M. Monier William