14 



of him only by asking hira for the precious necklace '. Also the 

 Chinese dragons were said to have pearls at their throats. 



The Avadana-qataka, a hundred legends translated from the 

 Sanskrit by LfoN Feeii ^ contain a few passages concerning the 

 Nagas. The most important one is the 91*1^ legend ^ where 

 Suparni, the king of birds, is said to have seized from the ocean 

 a little Naga, which after having been devoured was reborn as 

 Subhuti and by following the Buddha's teachings reached Arhatship. 

 He remembered to have had five hundred rebirths among the 

 Nagas on account of a long row of wicked thoughts in previous 

 existences. Now he used his supernatural power to convert both 

 Nagas and Garudas by protecting the former against five hundred 

 Garudas and the latter against a gigantic Naga, which he caused 

 to appear. In this way the law of love was taught them, and 

 they followed his teachings. 



In another legend * a Brahman is said to have been reborn as 

 a Naga because he had broken his fast; seven times a day a 

 rain of burning sand came down upon him till he succeeded in 

 keeping a special fast. Then, after having died with abstinence 

 of food, he was reborn in the TrayastriniQat heaven. 



In a third passage ^ Virupaksha, one of the four guardians of 

 the world, who reigns on the West side of Mount Meru, is said 

 to be surrounded by Nagas (his subjects, who live in the West). 



Finally, the Nagas are mentioned among the divine beings 

 who came to worship the Buddha: Qakra, the king of the gods, 

 ViQvakarma and the four great kings surrounded by Devas, 

 Nagas, Takshas, Gandharvas and Kumbhandas '^; another time 

 they are enumerated as follows: Devas, Nagas, Yakshas, Asuras, 

 Garudas, Kinnaras and Mahoragas '. 



In AyvAGHOSA's Sutralainhara ®, translated into French from 

 Kumarajiva's Chinese version by Edouard Huber, 'the Nagas are 

 often mentioned. "When the great Naga causes the rain to fall, 

 the ocean alone can receive the latter; in the same way the 



\ Chavannes, 1.1., Vol. II, nr 355, p. 319 (Trip. XV, 8, p. 44). 



2 Annales du Musie Guimet, Tome XVIII (1891). 



3 Pp. 366 sq. 4 Nr 59, pp. 327 sqq. 5 Nr 19, p. 83. 

 6 Nr 12, pp. 57 sq. 7 Nr 17, p. 77. 



8 Kumarajiva translated this collection of tales about A.D. 410; the original Sanskrit 

 text is lost, except some fragments, which, according to Huber, show that Kumarajiva 

 not always understood the text. Huber's translation is based upon the Tokyo edition 

 of the Tripitaka (XIX, 4). It is nr 1182 of Nanjo's Catalogue, entitled -f;* St ^ 



Wgff ZS^^ l!A 11 ± l_j._J . TIT_1_— 1 1_ — .-_ .— i_-_ I __ 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



