Nāga

Nāgas are serpent beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain tradition, often cobras or half-human figures with cobra hoods, who live in underwater or underground kingdoms, guard treasure, and control rain and water.

What Nāgas Are

The Sanskrit word nāga means "serpent," especially the cobra, but in religion and folklore the nāgas are a whole race of semi-divine beings. They live in Pātāla, the underworld, or in palaces beneath lakes, rivers, and the sea, where they keep jewels and treasure. They can appear as giant cobras, often with many hoods, as humans with a cobra hood rising behind the head, or as beings that are human above and serpent below. Female nāgas, nāginīs, are famous for their beauty. Nāgas are not usually evil. They can bless with rain and fertility or punish with drought, flood, and snakebite.

In Hindu Tradition

The Mahabharata tells how the nāgas were born to Kadru, one of the wives of the sage Kashyapa, and how their feud with Garuda, the eagle son of her rival Vinata, began. The epic also tells of King Janamejaya's great sacrifice to destroy all snakes, stopped by the young sage Astika. Great nāgas include Shesha, on whom the god Vishnu rests, Vasuki, who served as the rope when the gods churned the ocean, and Takshaka, who killed King Parikshit. The festival of Nag Panchami honors nāgas with offerings of milk.

In Buddhism and Jainism

In Buddhist legend the nāga king Mucalinda coiled around the meditating Buddha and spread his hoods to shelter him from a week-long storm. Nāgas are said to guard relics of the Buddha and hidden scriptures. In Jain tradition the nāga king Dharanendra and his queen Padmavati shelter the teacher Parshvanatha in the same way.

Across Asia

Indian religion carried the nāga across Asia. In Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos, many-headed nāgas guard temple stairways and bridges. In China and Japan, Buddhist translators rendered nāga as "dragon," so many East Asian dragon kings have Indian nāga roots.

Legacy

Nāga stones carved with serpents still stand under sacred trees in South India, and Kerala's family serpent groves are tended to this day. In modern fantasy, "naga" usually means a serpent-bodied people, an idea popularized by games such as Dungeons & Dragons. See more on our India and Southeast Asia page and the dragon species entry.

Related

• Shesha: Shesha is the thousand-headed serpent king of Hindu myth who floats on the cosmic ocean as the couch of the god Vishnu and holds up the earth on his hoods; his other name, Ananta, means "endless."
• Vasuki: Vasuki is a king of the nāgas in Hindu myth who served as the churning rope when the gods and demons churned the cosmic ocean, and who coils around the neck of the god Shiva.
• Kaliya: Kaliya is a many-headed poisonous serpent of Hindu myth who fouled a pool of the Yamuna River until the young god Krishna leaped in, danced on his hoods, and banished him to the sea.
• Phaya Naga: The Phaya Naga is the great serpent king of Thai and Lao Buddhist folklore, a crested, often many-headed serpent believed to live in the Mekong River and to guard temples, water, and the Buddhist faith.
• Dragon Kings (Longwang): The Dragon Kings are the dragon rulers of the seas, rivers, and lakes in Chinese religion and folklore, rain-giving lords who live in crystal palaces, take human form, and answer to the Jade Emperor.
• Dragon Species
• Dragons Across Cultures
• Roc

Sources and Further Reading

• J. Ph. Vogel, Indian Serpent-Lore, or the Nāgas in Hindu Legend and Art (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1926)
• J. A. B. van Buitenen, trans., The Mahābhārata, vol. 1, The Book of the Beginning (University of Chicago Press, 1973)
• Anna L. Dallapiccola, Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (Thames & Hudson, 2002)
• M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1913)

Cite this entry: “Nāga,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/naga.