The equation of snake and dragon probably comes from the idea of
naagas being supernatural creatures. The PED indicates that naaga may
be of non-Aryan origin, and I've seen a couple sources indicating that
the worship of naagas in South and Southeast Asia may have been an
important part of pre-Vedic religion.

There's a great deal of confusion over what exactly naagas are- is
every snake a naaga? Is a naaga a snake that turns into human and
other forms, or a divine being that prefers the form of a snake, but
takes others as well? This sort of anthropomorphic ambiguity seems
typical of many animistic religions- think of Coyote in Native
American mythology.

Snakes are significant animals in many animist religious systems
(Australian and North American natives, for instance), and given the
wide range of powerful or dangerous species of snakes in south asia
(cobras, pythons, etc.) it's not unlikely that they would have entered
into local mythology. There is a reference in the Tipitaka to a naaga
that breathes fire and smoke, for instance. This could have its
origin in the spitting cobra of India- someone who isn't familiar with
this particular species who hears of a snake that can spit blinding
poison is likely going to view this as a supernatural ability.

Interestingly, naaga also seems to occasionally refer to a non-aryan
people. There is presently an ethnicity/tribe in India called the
Nagas (they are also present in Myanmar, which was also a center of
pre-Buddhist naaga worship) who are seen as being racially distinct
from other Indians, most of whom practiced traditional animism until
most of them were converted to Christianity in the 19th Century. It's
unclear what the relationship between the ethnic group and the divine
being is- did naaga worship originate in the practices of this tribe
perhaps? Or, as the tribe is described as previously having been
'warlike' and engaging in headhunting, did their ferocity and
'foreignness' result in the naaga people being classified as non-human
beings, whose identity among somehow became tied to snake-beings that
they worshipped? Most likely, it's some sort of very strange process
of linguistic drift and renewal- like the fact that something that
orbits the Earth with astronauts inside it, and the thing used to pass
thread through a loom are both called a "shuttle".

As for the elephant- PED gives hatthi-naaga "Naaga elephant" as an
ephithet for a powerful or strong elephant. During the heyday of
Naaga worship in south asia, it's possible that something strong and
powerful was refered to as a 'naaga-something', the way we might talk
of the 'divine hammer' of Thor or the 'godly chariot' of Apollo, or a
strong individual as having a 'godlike physique'. Another possibility
is in the fact that hatthin as a term for elephant seems to literally
mean 'having a hand'. "Having a hand like a snake" seems like a
fairly reasonable description of an elephant coming from a pre-modern
zoologist!

Also interesting that the protective verse in AN IV.67 is mentioned by
Ven. Thanissaro as being one of the few protective verses or charms
explicitly identified as such and recommended by the Buddha in the
Tipitaka. The idea is to avoid death by snakebite by projecting metta
to the four tribes or kingdoms of naagas.

Clay Collier

On 9/6/05, Ong Yong Peng <yongpeng.ong@...> wrote:
> Dear Gunnar, Florent and friends,
>
> since we are talking about siiha/lion on another thread, I thought
> why not reply to this one which I wanted to earlier.
>
> Has anyone thought about why naaga can refer to serpent, elephant and
> dragon?
>
>
> metta,
> Yong Peng.
>
>
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:
>
> > 7. The serpent gets food from the poet.
> > Ahi kavimhaa aahaara.m labhati.
>
> There are many pali words for "serpent"; etymologically closest,
> actually identical, is "sappa" (sanskrit "sarpa"). "Uraga" is known
> from the first sutta of the Suttanipaata, "naaga" is known by many
> Westerners in its Hindi form "naag" through Kipling's Jungle Book,
> etc.
>
>
>
>
>
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