Nagas, Nats, Chinese dragons, and divers other mythical serpentine sapients

An early version of Viola Lesson had this bit:

Well, that’s a big grownup version of said critter… -Heather Gladney 9/17/08 10:57 PM O_O Dude, yikes-Jlwitwer 9/17/08 10:58 PM I think this one is more common… -Heather Gladney 9/17/08 10:59 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lingam.jpg -Heather Gladney 9/17/08 10:59 PM

Stories involving the nāgas are still very much a part of contemporary cultural traditions in predominantly Hindu regions of Asia (India, Nepal, and the island of Bali). In India, nāgas are considered nature spirits and the protectors of springs, wells and rivers. They bring rain, and thus fertility, but are also thought to bring disasters such as floods and drought. According to traditions nāgas are only malevolent to humans when they have been mistreated. They are susceptible to mankind’s disrespectful actions in relation to the environment. They are also associated with waters — rivers, lakes, seas, and wells — and are generally regarded as guardians of treasure. According to Beer (1999),^{[page # needed]} Naga and cintamani are often depicted together and associated directly in the literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%81ga

the cobra’s hood. -Heather Gladney 9/17/08 11:04 PM

Gigantic naga protecting Buddha amongst the other sculptures of Bunleua Sulilat‘s Sala Keoku.

Some wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga

Nāga (Indonesian: naga or nogo; Khmer: neak) is the Sanskrit word for snake or dragon. In Hindu–Buddhist belief, naga are celestial dragons often able to take human form. They are usually limbless but those with legs resemble the Chinese dragon. Some naga are hooded like cobras and higher ranking ones may have up to nine heads. Even-headed naga symbolise female energy and odd-headed ones are male. The spread of Hinduism and Buddhism took the naga legend throughout South and Southeast Asia.

https://www.khandro.net/mysterious_naga.htm
More info… this site has a *lot* of broken links, very frustrating!

The word Naga comes from the Sanskrit, and nag is still the word for snake, especially the cobra, in most of the languages of India. When we come upon the word in Buddhist writings, it is not always clear whether the term refers to a cobra, an elephant (perhaps this usage relates to its snake-like trunk, or the pachyderm’s association with forest-dwelling peoples of north-eastern India called Nagas,) or even a mysterious person of nobility. It is a term used for unseen beings associated with water and fluid energy, and also with persons having powerful animal-like qualities or conversely, an impressive animal with human qualities.

In myths, legends, scripture and folklore, the category naga comprises all kinds of serpentine beings. Under this rubric are snakes, usually of the python kind (despite the fact that naga is usually taken literally to refer to a cobra,) deities of the primal ocean and of mountain springs; also spirits of earth and the realm beneath it, and finally, dragons.

In Indian mythology, Nagas are primarily serpent-beings under the sea. However, Varuna, the Vedic god of storms, is viewed as the King of the Nagas, ie. Nagarajah.

(the picture shows a naga wrapped around another diety, , with two female nagas to the sides:)

Here we see the king and queen of water nagas worshipping Parshva, the Jain Tirthankara of the era before this one.

(

It may not be obvious on this one, but some of the naga royalty types where I’m having trouble getting pics do show multiple serpentine heads, with cobra hoods, that merge into one body. Sounds remarkably like a partial-twining process. OF course, if these hoods are capable of EMF manipulation, the wider the scoop over all, the further it can reach.)

Because of its shape and its association with renewal, the serpent is a phallic symbol. This powerful emblem of fertility is thought to bring plentiful harvests and many children — images of nagas adorn houses and shrines and temples. It is said that when a king once banned snake worship, his kingdom suffered a drought, but the rains returned once the king himself placated Vasuki.

Nag’arjuna

The Indian mahasiddha, Nagarjuna, received his illuminating insights and tantric empowerment with the help of the nagas in the lake beside which he meditated. Nagarjuna is one of the main champions of Buddhist philosophy, and is traditionally portrayed with a sunshade or halo formed by a multi-headed serpent. He is called the Second Buddha, partly in tribute to his having established the Madhyamaka [Middle-Way, ie. neither materialist nor nihilist nor idealist] school of philosophy.

See the Buddha’s protector-naga in the process of transforming into Nagarjuna unsheathing the sword of wisdom at the Asian Art web site.

edited to add it finally!!

That gallery one above is a pretty nice pic, but it won’t let me load it into google docs.

https://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/albuquerque/p11.html

I saw a special on nats on Discovery channel (I think) a couple of months ago. -Tina 10/16/08 9:47 PMineresting! I didn’t know that name was associated with these guys. -Heather 10/16/08 7:53 PM There were some locals who felt that their river was being inhabited by them – literally. -Tina 10/16/08 9:56 PM

Same site, discussing Nagas as teachers and metors (ferencing they’re something like centaurs in Greek tradition)

Tradition has it that Buddha Shakyamuni took rebirth in the naga realm just before his last incarnation on earth. Bodhisattvas of the 9th and 10th levels are reborn there in order to obtain empowerments and hidden teachings. By extension, someone reborn in any of the naga realms has the potential of reaching buddhahood in a short time without the need for any intervening rebirth. These so-called naga-buddhas are invoked by practitioners to grant special insight and siddhis [abilities].

Nagaradja (Lhudjal)
The Serpent King and Master of Tantra
(this one doesn’t appear to have multiple heads, just one giant clamshell like structure. The ribbons could of course be clothing…maybe…)

Nats and Naks

In Myanmar (formerly, Burma) a serpent-tailed spirit is known as a nat. Nats are nature spirits associated with trees and other sacred places. The West is the direction of the Nat who is the naga-master of fortune.

he funerary vehicle of a Laotian king drawn by a naga couple.

(These are from Laos. You also notice these guys don’t have a hood at all, just a forward spike. The Thai one below is like this also.)

Further link to Thai symbolism (all of these being slightly different):

https://www.chiangmai1.com/chiang_mai/sub/naga_and_makara.shtml

The Naga and Makara live in paradises beneath the rivers, lakes and seas. They control the sources of rain and are the guardians of life-giving energy in its waters. On the balustrades to temples they represent both the rising of water to the heavens and the down pouring of rain from the sky. Thus they are powerful symbols in a culture based on wet-rice cultivation.

They may also be seen as linking the earth below to the heaven above by a celestial stairway represented by a rainbow. The colors of the rainbow represent different aspects of the unity of light at their source. The naga stairway, then, symbolically links opposites. It links the world of illusion, the Sea of Samsara upon which the viharn floats, to the formless world of nirvana. Thus the Naga and Makara symbolize the ties that bind man to the world of illusion, and the path that frees man from that illusion.

In one videogame system, Monster Rancher:

They were first introduced in Monster Rancher, and were obtainable at the beginning of the game. They have continued to appear in every Monster Rancher game. Naga was also the fourth and last of the chief villains in the anime series.They are humanoid serpents with stingers on their tails. They are known for being violent and vicious.

They have a variety of attacks, using poisonous fangs. Nagas also use Int-based attacks like their eye beam and energy shots. They are based on the mythological Naga and take their name from them.

In the dungeons and Dragons gaming style, there’s various kinds of nagas.

Amusingly, one is a “chaotic good” Iridescent Naga. Hmm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, nagas comprise a variety of similar species of intelligent aberrations with widely differing abilities and alignments. Nagas appear as large snake like creatures with humanoid torsos. They often range widely in coloring and scale patterns, but are all usually about the same size. Most will ‘stand’ at a height about equal to or just above that of a regular human (six feet or so), but because of the length of their trailing tails they can raise themselves up by a few feet, to intimidate foes, or simply get a better view. The four most common races of naga are the dark naga, guardian naga, spirit naga, and water naga.

• Banelar Naga [1] – purplish naga that can manipulate magic items with short tentacles around its face; named after their association with the deity Bane
• Bone Naga [2] – a unique type of undead naga
• Bone Naga Template [3] – can be applied to any naga to create an undead creature
• Bright Naga [4] – chaotic evil naga that can mock sorcerous spellcasting
• Brine Naga – powerful naga that resembles a sea serpent
• Dark Naga – lawful evil
• Guardian Naga – lawful good
• Ha-naga [5] – a massive and powerful naga lord, often worshipped by spirit nagas as a god
• Iridescent Naga [6] – chaotic good
• Master Naga – Possesses seven cowled heads, wearing giant gems whose value corresponds with the naga’s age.
• Spirit Naga – chaotic evil
• Water Naga – neutral
• Worm Naga – powerful servants of the deity Kyuss transformed into nagas