Chief woman disciple of Sujáta Buddha. J.i.38; Bu.xiii.26.
One of the chief women supporters of Phussa Buddha. Bu.xix.21.
A former birth of Asokamálá, when she was the wife of Tissa (later Sáliya), an artisan of Mundagangá. MT.605.
An arahant of Bhátaragáma. During the pillage of Bráhmana Tissa, when all the villagers had fled, she went with her colleagues to a banyan tree, the presiding deity of which provided them with food. She had a brother, Nága; when he visited her she gave him part of her food, but he refused to accept food from a bhikkhuni. MA.i.546; AA.ii.654.
A class of beings. See Appendix.
An eminent Therí of Ceylon. Dpv.xviii.35.
A woman who lived near the Rájáyatana-cetiya. Once, seeing sixty monks return from the village with empty bowls, she, although already pledged to work by day, borrowed some money on promise to work at night as well, and gave them food. The monks retired to Mucalindavana and developed arahantship before eating. The deity of the king's parasol shouted applause, and the king, having heard the story, gave Nágá the whole island, which thus came to be called Nágádipa. Ras.ii.16f.
A class of beings classed with Garulas and Supannas and playing a prominent part in Buddhist folk lore. They are gifted with miraculous powers and great strength. Generally speaking, they are confused with snakes, chiefly the hooded Cobra, and their bodies are described as being those of snakes, though they can assume human form at will. They are broadly divided into two classes: those that live on land (thalaja) and those that live on water (jalaja). The Jalaja-nágá live in rivers as well as in the sea, while the Thalaja-nágá are regarded as living beneath the surface of the earth. Several Nága dwellings are mentioned in the books: e.g., Mañjerika-bhavana under Sineru, Daddara-bhavana at the foot of Mount Daddara in the Himálaya, the Dhatarattha-nágá under the river Yamuná, the Nábhásá Nágá in Lake Nabhasa, and also the Nágas of Vesáli, Tacchaka, and Payága (D.ii.258). The Vinaya (ii.109) contains a list of four royal families of Nágas (Ahirájakuláni): Virúpakkhá, Erápathá, Chabyáputtá and Kanhagotamaká. Two other Nága tribes are generally mentioned together: the Kambalas and the Assataras. It is said (SA.iii.120) that all Nágas have their young in the Himálaya.
Stories are given - e.g., in the Bhúridatta Játaka - of Nágas, both male and female, mating with humans; but the offspring of such unions are watery and delicate (J.vi.160). The Nágas are easily angered and passionate, their breath is poisonous, and their glance can be deadly (J.vi.160, 164). They are carnivorous (J.iii.361), their diet consisting chiefly of frogs (J.vi.169), and they sleep, when in the world of men, on ant hills (ibid., 170). The enmity between the Nágas and the Garulas is proverbial (D.ii.258). At first the Garulas did not know how to seize the Nágas, because the latter swallowed large stones so as to be of great weight, but they learnt how in the Pandara Játaka (q.v.). The Nágas dance when music is played, but it is said (J.vi.191) that they never dance if any Garula is near (through fear) or in the presence of human dancers (through shame).
The best known of all Nágas is Mahákála, king of Mañjerika-bhavana (q.v.). He lives for a whole kappa, and is a very pious follower of the Buddha. The Nágas of his world had the custodianship of a part of the Buddha's relics till they were needed for the Máha Thúpa (Mhv.xxxi.27f.), and when the Bodhi tree was being brought to Ceylon they did it great honour during the voyage (Mbv. p.. 163f.). Other Nága kings are also mentioned as ruling with great power and majesty and being converted to the Buddha's faith - e.g., Aravála, Apalálá, Erapatta, Nandopananda, and Pannaka. (See also Ahicchatta and Ahinága.) In the Atánátiya Sutta (D.iii.198f.), speaking of dwellers of the Cátummahárajika world, the Nágas are mentioned as occupying the Western Quarter, with Virúpokkha as their king.
The Nágas had two chief settlements in Ceylon, in Nágadípa (q.v.) and at the mouth of the river Kalyání. It was to settle a dispute between two Nága chiefs of Nágadípa, Mahodara and Cúlodara, that the Buddha paid his second visit to Ceylon. During that visit he made a promise to another Nága-king, Manjakkhika of Kalyání, to pay him a visit, and the Buddha's third visit was in fulfilment of that undertaking (Mhv.i.48f.).
The Nágas form one of the guards set up by Sakka in Sineru against the Asuras (J.i.204). The Nágas were sometimes worshipped by human beings and were offered sacrifices of milk, rice, fish, meat and strong drink (J.i.497f.). The jewel of the Nágas is famous for its beauty and its power of conferring wishes to its possessor (J.vi.179, 180).
The word Nága is often used as an epithet of the Buddha and the Arahants, and in this connection the etymology given is águm na karotí ti Nágo (e.g., MNid.201). The Bodhisatta was born several times as king of the Nágas: Atula, Campeyya, Bhúridatta, Mahádaddara, and Sankhapála.
In the accounts given of the Nágas, there is undoubtedly great confusion between the Nágas as supernatural beings, as snakes, and as the name of certain non Aryan tribes, but the confusion is too difficult to unravel.