Nāga untranslated

Nāga 01. An eminent Thera of Ceylon, a teacher of the Vinaya. Vin.v.3.

Nāga 02. Third of the ten sons of Muṭasīva, and therefore a brother of Devānampiyatissa. Dpv.xi.6; xvii.75.

Nāga 03. A Thera of Ceylon during the pillage by Brāhmaṇatissa. His sister was an Arahant Therī named Nāgā (q.v.). For their story see MN­a.i.546f.; AN­a.ii.654f.

Nāga 04. An Elder of Kāraḷiyagiri in Ceylon. For eighteen years he gave up teaching the Dhamma, but later he taught the Dhātukathā, and his memory of the contents was perfect. Vsm.96.

Nāga 05. See Coranāga, Mahā Nāga, etc.

Nāgā 01. Chief woman disciple of Sujāta Buddha. Ja.i.38; Bv.xiii.26.

Nāgā 02. One of the chief women supporters of Phussa Buddha. Bv.xix.21.

Nāgā 03. A former birth of Asokamālā, when she was the wife of Tissa (later Sāliya), an artisan of Muṇḍagaṅgā. Mhv­ṭ.605.

Nāgā 04. Nāgā Therī. An Arahant of Bhātaragāma. During the pillage of Brāhmaṇa Tissa, when all the villagers had fled, she went with her colleagues to a banyan tree, the presiding deity of which provided them with food. She had a brother, Nāga; when he visited her she gave him part of her food, but he refused to accept food from a bhikkhunī. MN­a.i.546; AN­a.ii.654.

Nāgā 05. See Coranāgā, Mahā Nāgā, etc.

Nāgā 06. An eminent Therī of Ceylon. Dpv.xviii.35.

Nāgā 07. A woman who lived near the Rājāyatanacetiya. Once, seeing sixty monks return from the village with empty bowls, she, although already pledged to work by day, borrowed some money on promise to work at night as well, and gave them food. The monks retired to Mucalindavana and developed Arahant-ship before eating. The deity of the king’s parasol shouted applause, and the king, having heard the story, gave Nāgā the whole island, which thus came to be called Nāgādīpa. Ras.ii.16f.

Nāgā 08. Nāgas are a class of beings classed with Garuḷas and Supaṇṇas and playing a prominent part in Buddhist folk lore. They are gifted with miraculous powers and great strength. Generally speaking, they are confused with snakes, chiefly the hooded Cobra, and their bodies are described as being those of snakes, though they can assume human form at will. They are broadly divided into two classes: those that live on land (thalaja) and those that live on water (jalaja). The Jalajanāgā live in rivers as well as in the sea, while the Thalajanāgā are regarded as living beneath the surface of the earth. Several Nāga dwellings are mentioned in the books: e.g., Mañjerikabhavana under Sineru, Daddarabhavana at the foot of Mount Daddara in the Himālaya, the Dhataraṭṭhanāgā under the river Yamunā, the Nābhasānāgā in Lake Nābhasa, and also the Nāgas of Vesālī, Tacchaka, and Payāga (DN.ii.258). The Vinaya (ii.109) contains a list of four royal families of Nāgas (Ahirājakulāni): Virūpakkhā, Erāpathā, Chabyāputtā and Kaṇhagotamakā. Two other Nāga tribes are generally mentioned together: the Kambalas and the Assataras. It is said (SN­a.iii.120) that all Nāgas have their young in the Himālaya.

Stories are given – e.g., in the Bhūridattajātaka – of Nāgas, both male and female, mating with humans; but the offspring of such unions are watery and delicate (Ja.vi.160). The Nāgas are easily angered and passionate, their breath is poisonous, and their glance can be deadly (Ja.vi.160, 164). They are carnivorous (Ja.iii.361), their diet consisting chiefly of frogs (Ja.vi.169), and they sleep, when in the world of men, on ant hills (ibid., 170). The enmity between the Nāgas and the Garuḷas is proverbial (DN.ii.258). At first the Garuḷas did not know how to seize the Nāgas, because the latter swallowed large stones so as to be of great weight, but they learnt how in the Paṇḍarajātaka (Ja 518, q.v.). The Nāgas dance when music is played, but it is said (Ja.vi.191) that they never dance if any Garuḷa is near (through fear) or in the presence of human dancers (through shame).

The best known of all Nāgas is Mahā Kāḷa, king of Mañjerikabhavana (q.v.). He lives for a whole kappa, and is a very pious follower of the Buddha. The Nāgas of his world had the custodianship of a part of the Buddha’s relics till they were needed for the Māha Thūpa (Mhv.xxxi.27f.), and when the Bodhi-tree was being brought to Ceylon they did it great honour during the voyage (Mbv.p.163f.). Other Nāga kings are also mentioned as ruling with great power and majesty and being converted to the Buddha’s faith – e.g., Āravāla, Apalāla, Erapatta, Nandopananda, and Paṇṇaka (see also Ahicchatta and Ahināga.) In the Āṭānāṭiyasutta (DN.iii.198f.), speaking of dwellers of the Cātummahārājika world, the Nāgas are mentioned as occupying the Western Quarter, with Virūpakkha as their king.

The Nāgas had two chief settlements in Ceylon, in Nāgadīpa (q.v.) and at the mouth of the river Kalyāṇī. It was to settle a dispute between two Nāga chiefs of Nāgadīpa, Mahodara and Cūḷodara, that the Buddha paid his second visit to Ceylon. During that visit he made a promise to another Nāga-king, Maṇi­akkhika of Kalyāṇī, to pay him a visit, and the Buddha’s third visit was in fulfilment of that undertaking (Mhv.i.48f.).

The Nāgas form one of the guards set up by Sakka in Sineru against the Asuras (Ja.i.204). The Nāgas were sometimes worshipped by human beings and were offered sacrifices of milk, rice, fish, meat and strong drink (Ja.i.497f.). The jewel of the Nāgas is famous for its beauty and its power of conferring wishes to its possessor (Ja.vi.179, 180).

The word Nāga is often used as an epithet of the Buddha and the Arahants, and in this connection the etymology given is āguṁ na karotī ti Nāgo (e.g., MNid.201). The Bodhisatta was born several times as king of the Nāgas: Atula, Campeyya, Bhūridatta, Mahā Daddara, and Saṅkhapāla.

In the accounts given of the Nāgas, there is undoubtedly great confusion between the Nāgas as supernatural beings, as snakes, and as the name of certain non-Aryan tribes, but the confusion is too difficult to unravel.