South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

record the consecration of a tank and a garden dedicated to Bhagavat Bhūmi-nāga. A Nāga image, discovered at Chhargāon (five miles to the south of Mathurā), bears an inscription stating that the Nāga was installed by two persons in their own tank. The epigraph ends with the maṅgala : “ May the Bhagavat Nāga be pleases ! ” But no name is applied to the Nāga in this case. This reminds us of the custom of erecting a Nāga-kāshṭha (i.e. a pole with its top fashioned in the shape of a serpent), at the centre of a tank at the time of its consecration, which is prevalent in some parts of India even to this day.^[1]

The popularity of the Nāga cult in the Mathurā region is also indicated by the Harivaṁśa episode of the famous Kāliya-nāga who lived in the waters of the Yamunā^[2] as well as by the wellknown conception of Balarāma as the incarnation of Ananta-nāga. The episode of Akrūra in the world of serpents, as given in the Harivaṁśa and referred to in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, is also interesting to note in this connection. Akrūra is stated to have reached the abode of the snakes in the Nether World by diving down in the waters of the Yamunā. There he found the Nāga Ananta or Śēsha worshipped by the other Nāgas.^[3] The description of the Nāga deity here is strikingly reminiscent of the iconography of Balarāma as indicated by Varāhamihira’s Bṛihatsaṁhitā^[4] and also known from sculptures.^[5]

A great centre of Nāga cult in the eastern part of Northern India was Rājagṛiha (modern Rājgīr in the Gaya District, Bihar), the ancient capital of Magadha, and its neighbourhood. A tradition recorded by Hiuen-tsang^[6] seems to suggest that a Nāga named Nālanda was the guardian deity of the city of Nālandā (modern Bargāon in the Patna District), not far away from Rājgīr. According to the Mahābhārata,^[7] there were temples of the Nāga gods, Svastika-nāga and Maṇi-nāga, at Rājagṛiha which was also the abode of the Nāgas, Arbuda and Śakravāpin. Ancient Nāga images have been discovered at Rājgīr and the area around it and the Maṇiyār Maṭh at Rājgīr has been supposed to represent an old Maṇināga-maṭha.^[8] A sculpture, discovered in the ruins of Maṇiyār Maṭh, is known to bear the representation of two male Nāga figures with a diminutive female figure between them and these three figures have tentatively been identified respectively with Maṇināga,

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^[1] Bhattasali, op. cit., p. 216.
^[2] Cf. Vogel, op. cit., pp. 87 ff.
^[3] Ibid., p. 92 : “ Now Akrūra dived down in the pool of the Yamunā and in the Nether Region (Rasātala) he beheld the world of snakes. In the middle thereof, he saw the thousand-headed lord of the serpents who carried a plough in one hand and whose frame was supported by a mace. His lofty banner was a golden fan palm. He was of white complexion and was wrapped in a dark-coloured garment. He wore a single ear-ring and, being intoxicated, he slept. He was seated at his ease on the shining seat formed by the mass of his coils. Long-armed was he ; his breast was covered by a wreath of golden lotus flowers and his limbs were anointed with red-sandal. He was worshipped by the chiefs among the Nāgas headed by Vāsuki. The two Nāgas, Kambala and Aśvatara, holding chowries, were fanning the deity who was seated on the seat of justice. The other snakes, Karkōṭaka foremost, attended him and laved their monarch by means of golden jars. Seated in his lap was Vishṇu, dark like a thunder cloud, and wearing a yellow garment, his breast adorned with the Śrīvatsa ”. In Buddhist tradition, Kambala and Aśvatara are sometimes called the Nāgas of the Gaṅga. See Vogel, op. cit., p. 118.
^[4] Cf. LVIII, 36 : “ Baladēva must be made having a plough in his right hand, with eyes lively from drink, and wearing a single ear-ring. His complexion is fair like a conch-shell, the moon or lotus-fibre ”.
^[5] Cf. The Age of Imperial Unity (The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. II), p. 452.
^[6] Watters, On Yuan Chwavg’s Travels in India, Vol. II, p. 165.
^[7] Cf. Vaṅgavāsī edition, II, 21, 9 : Arbudaḥ Śakravāpī cha pannagau śatru-tāpanaṇ, Svastikasy=ālayaś=ch= ātra Maṇināgasya ch=ōttamaḥ. The place of Maṇināga is also located near Rājagṛiha elsewhere in the same work (III. 84. 104-108).
^[8] Cf. ARASI, 1905-6, pp. 103 ff. ; Vogel, op. cit., pp. 218-9 ; Ghosh, A Guide to Rajgir, p. 16 ; etc. The existence of a Maṇināga-maṭha in Orissa is known from the Kanas plates (above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 328 ff). Elsewhere (JBRS, Vol. XXXIX, Parts 1-2, pp. 41 ff.) we have suggested that Maṇināga was sometimes identified with the popular Yaksha deity Maṇibhadra or Māṇibhadra who was regarded as the guardian of caravans. For the name Māṇibhadra and the god’s association with the safety of a merchant’s journey in Jain tradition, see also Dhanapāla’s Bhavissattakaha (tenth century) in Journ. Or. Inst., Vol. II, pp. 352, 354.