22 



4. Nagas who are lying hidden ('f^l^fl), guarding the trea- 

 suries of the "Kings of the Wheel" C|^ 3£ , CakravartT-rajas) 

 and blessing mankind '. 



The TaiheiW^, a Japanese work, relates an Indian tale in 

 which a Dragon (i. e. "Naga) king is said to have caused rain. A 

 sien (f[lj, the Chinese equivalent for a wonder-working ascetic), 

 annoyed by this, caught all big and small dragons of the inner 

 and outer seas, and shut them up in a rock. Owing to their 

 absence not a drop of rain fell for a long time, and the crops 

 were spoiled by the heavy drought. Then the king, moved with 

 compassion for his people, asked his advisers how this ascetic's 

 power could be broken and the dragons let loose. The answer 

 was, that a beautiful woman could seduce him and thus put a 

 stop to his magic capacity. So the King despatched the greatest 

 beauty of his harem to the cottage of the ascetic, who immediately 

 fell in love with her and, losing his supernatural power, became 

 an common man and died. The dragons, no longer under his 

 influence, flew away to the sky, and caused the winds to blow 

 and the rain to fall. 



A passage from Jin-Ch^au's Buddhist Kosmos ^, dealing with the 

 Naga kings, and translated by Beal in his Catena of Buddhist 

 scriptures from the Chinese'^, mentions four siitras, one of which, 

 the Mahamegha sutra, shall be treated below in § 4. As to the 

 Lau-Tdn{^) sutra, the title of which is not explained by Beal, 

 so that we know neither the Chinese characters nor the Sanscrit 

 equivalent, this sutra is said there to contain the following passage : 

 "To the North of Mount Sumeru, under the waters of the Great 

 Sea, is the Palace of Sagara Nagaraja, in length and breadth 



1 Cf. the Japanese Buddhist dictionary Bukkyo iroha jiten, ^^ ^^ Y O 1/^ 

 ^ M., written in 1901 (sec. ed. 1904) by Miuka Keksiike, ^ 7^ ^ Hj^ , Vol. 

 II, p. 56 s. V. ^1 ; the Chinese work TsHen kHoh kii lei shu, y® S^ M ^S 9 1 

 written in the Ming dynasty by Ch'en Jen-sih, |^ 'fl! ^ • The same Chinese work 

 enumerates as follows the three sorrows (^^>) of the Indian dragons: 



1. Hot winds and hot sand, which burn their skin, flesh and bones. 



2. Sudden violent winds, which blow away the palaces of the dragons and "make 

 them lose their treasures, clothes, etc., so that they can no longer hide their shapes. 



3. Golden-winged bird-kings (Garuda kings) who enter the dragons' palaces and 

 devour their children. 



2 -^ ^ m , written about 1382, Ch. XXXVII, p. 6. 



3 Fah-kai-on-lih-to ( 1^ Si , Fah-kai is Dharmadhatu). 



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