G.P. Malalasekera, Pali Proper Names; Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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| Oh, those pesky biblical dragons: Sakka (St. Michael) subdues a naga (Monastery Icons). |
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| Were dragons only mythical and imaginary in so many Western texts, the Bible, and maps? |
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| The first fully modern dragon (1260 AD) |
In ancient Buddhism, now in its 26th century, as in ancient Europe, which is a more recent development, "dragons" (shapeshifting Dracos) are called nagas.
Nāgās are a class of beings in Buddhist cosmology classified along with garulas (avians) and supannas (garudas and suparnas), playing a prominent role in Buddhist folklore.
- Dragon serpents are much older in China, the New World (like pre-Mexican Mayan and Aztec Mesoamerica), and all regions of the world.
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| We must distinguish different types of dragons. |
These reptilians are gifted with marvelous (siddhi) powers and great strength. Generally speaking, they are confused with snakes, chiefly the hooded cobra.
Their bodies are described as being those of snakes, though they can shapeshift and assume any form at will -- including that of a beautiful human. (One is reminded of the snake in the Garden of Eden with Eve and Adam).
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| Who put that Sumerian snake in a Judeo-Christian Garden? |
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| Persia (pre-Islam Proto-Iran) has an Aryan poem of Rostam/Rustam slaying a dragon. |
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| Royal families in China, India, and Europe worship and are worshipped as dragons. |
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| Three-headed dragon in Russian folklore (Zmey Gorynych) |
They are broadly divided into two classes, those that live on land (thalaja) and those that live in water (jalaja). The Jalaja-nāgā live in rivers as well as the sea, while the thalaja-nāgā are regarded as living beneath the surface of the earth.
Several nāga dwellings are mentioned in the books, for example:
- Mañjerika-bhavana under Mt. Meru (the axis mundi, Sineru, Mt. Sumeru)
- Daddara-bhavana at the foot of Mt. Daddara in the Himālayas
- the Dhatarattha-nāgā under the river Yamunā
- the Nābhāsā Nāgā in Lake Nabhasa
- the Nāgas of Vesāli, Tacchaka and Payāga (DN.ii.258).
The Monastic Code of Discipline (Vinaya, ii.109) contains a list of four royal families of nāgas (Ahirājakulāni):
- Virūpakkhā,
- Erāpathā,
- Chabyāputtā,
- Kanhagotamakā.
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| Symbolism: Avian (garuda) overs Reptilian (naga). |
Stories are given -- for example, in the Bhūridatta Jātaka -- of nāgas, male and female, mating with humans.
But the offspring of such unions are [or were a failure of genetic engineering because at that time they were] "watery and delicate" (J.vi.160). [They seem to have straightened those problems out and now conduct genetic manipulation with Draco reptilians mated with humans like .]
The nāgas are easily angered and passionate, their [fiery] breath is poisonous [like septic Komodo dragons and spitting African snakes capable of blinding a person], and their glance can be deadly (J.vi.160, 164).
They are carnivorous [eating humans as reptilians] (J.iii.361), their diet consisting chiefly of frogs (J.vi.169), and they sleep, when in the human world, on ant hills (Ibid., 170).
The Eagle and Serpent motif
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| An avian (garuda) overpowers a serpentine dragon (naga) motif on the Mexican flag. |
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| Dragon manuscript illustration from Verona: St. George (patron saint of England), circa 1270 |
At first garulas did not know how to seize nāgas, because the latter swallowed large stones so as to be too heavy, but then they learned how in the Pandara Jātaka.
The nāgas dance when music is played, but it is said (J.vi.191) that they never dance if any garula is nearby (due to fear) or in the presence of human dancers (due to shame).
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| The European drag can fly and shoot flames. |
The nāgas of his world had the custodianship of a part of the Buddha's cremation relics until they were needed for the Māha Thūpa or "Great Burial Mound" (Mhv.xxxi.27f.).
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| A Chinese one gets to Rustam |
And when the Bodhi tree was being brought to Sri Lanka, they did it great honor 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 Dharma, for example Aravāla, Apalālā, Erapatta, Nandopananda, and Pannaka. (See also Ahicchatta and Ahināga).
In the Atānātiya Sutra (DN.iii.198f.), speaking of dwellers of the Realm of the Four Great Sky Kings or Regents (Cātummahārajika), the nāgas are mentioned as occupying the Western quarter of the sky, with Regent Virūpokkha as their ruler.
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| Ancient Greek: Goddess Athena observes as Colchian dragon disgorges the hero Jason, attic red-figure kylix painting, circa 480-470, part of the Holy Roman Empire's booty (Mithraic Vatican). |
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| Rustam can't get enough of that D |
The nāgas had two chief settlements in Sri Lanka, in Nāgadīpa ("Naga Island") and at the mouth of the Kalyānī River. It was to settle a dispute between two nāga chiefs of Nāgadīpa, Mahodara and Cūlodara, that the Buddha paid his second visit to Sri Lanka.
During that visit he made a promise to another nāga-king, Manjakkhika of Kalyānī, 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, King of the Devas, in Sineru (Mt. Sumeru) against the titans or asuras (J.i.204).
The nāgas were sometimes worshipped by human beings, who offered sacrifices of rice, milk, fish, flesh, and strong drink (J.i.497f.).
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| Ancient Egyptians wrote of serpents in need of slaying, as if the pre-human world was reptilian |
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| The Sino Sphere takes dragons very seriously. |
The jewel (ratana or treasure) of the nāgas is famous for its beauty and its power of conferring wishes to its possessor (J.vi.179, 180).
The word nāga ("mighty being") is often used as an epithet of the Buddha and the arhats (fully enlightened disciples), and in this connection the etymology given is āgum na karotī ti nāgo (e.g., MNid.201).
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| Aryan Scythians defeat Nagas. |
The Bodhisattva (the Buddha-to-be) was reborn several times as a king of the nāgas: Atula, Campeyya, Bhūridatta, Mahādaddara, and Sankhapāla.
In accounts given of the nāgas, there is undoubtedly great confusion between the nāgas as various kinds of entities, good and bad.
Whether they are snakes, monsters, supernatural beings, reptoids (Draco reptilian humanoids), shapeshifters, genies (jinn), and the name of some non-Aryan "Barbarian" tribes (like those from Nagaland, northeast India), but the confusion and overly general use of the term is too difficult to unravel.
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