218 The Vcistu Yoga, [No. 3, 



tune or the fitting a new song to a tune, were exclusively the work 

 of the Aryans, the actual art was entrusted to the Nagas. The myth 

 represents Sarasvati imparting the art of music to the Nagas, who 

 excelled in its practise both Aryan and non-Aryan performers. 

 According to the Purdnas, the Nagas, the ganclharvas, the apsaras, 

 and the Icinnaras were the dancers and songsters in ancient India. 



The name of a good man is always considered a good omen, and 

 one of the morning duties of the Hindus is to pronounce the names 

 of the most eminent of their historical personages. Among these 

 we find the name of Karkotaha, one of the principal Nagas. It 

 may he said that the name of a Naga is enjoined to be uttered with 

 a view to propitiate him ; yet when it is associated with such names 

 as Nala and Damayanti, the inference is inevitable that the person 

 named was held in great estimation for some merit or other ; 

 possibly it was the name of a person who had acted in a friendly 

 manner to the Aryans. 



Sfasft TR^RoEJ Wre^tf ^TCcJ. | 



Having bowed to the earth, let Karkotaha be remembered. 



If the above be at all ambiguous as to the use of the name of this 

 Naga, the following from the Mahabharata is at once positive and 

 conclusive. 



The uttering of the names of Karkotaka Naga, of Damayanti, of Nala, and o-f 

 Rifcuparna, the hermit Prince, destroys all sin. 



From what we have stated above, we are led to behove, that 

 serpent-worship in the true sense of a creature worship, was never 

 prevalent in India, though the Hindus entertain a kind of respect 

 for the allegorical characters Ananta and Vamlii. This worship 

 may in the present day be seen practised under peculiar circum- 

 stances by several hill tribes, but it must be admitted that such a 

 practice does not obtain among the Aryans. The serpent, as an 

 emblem of eternity, may be respected ; but then it is the worship of 

 Vishnu, the eternal creating principle, it is the emblem, the form, 

 rather the curve of the serpent and not the reptile. Serpents have 

 crept into our mythological legends ; but in whatever form they 

 come, they were openly put down as enemies of Vishnu, The cow 



