the above mentioned legends of the Bodhisattva. He went back 

 to the Naga world and from there brought many jewels as a 

 present to the King, at the same time appointing one of his 

 numberless Naga girls to be near the King and to protect him. 

 He gave him also a charm by means of which he would always 

 be able to find the girl, if he did not see her, and afterwards 



^ presented him with another charm, giving knowledge of all 

 sounds, so that he understood the voices even of ants '. So we 

 find the Naga king not only in the possession of numberless 

 jewels and beautiful girls, but also of mighty charms, bestowing 

 supernatural vision and hearing. The palaces of the Naga kings 

 are always described as extremely splendid, abounding with gold 

 and silver and precious stones, and the Naga women, when 

 appearing in human shape, were beautiful beyond description. 

 But the whole race was terribly quick-tempered, which made 

 them, considering their deadly poison and their great magic 

 power, very dangerous creatures ^. Even the breath of their 

 nostrils was sufficient to kill a man, as we read in the above 

 mentioned Kharaputta-jataka, whei'e the Naga king, angry be- 

 cause the girl whom he had appointed to protect King Senaka, 

 came back to the Naga world, falsely complaining that the King 

 ' had struck her because she did not do his bidding, at once sent 

 four Naga youths to destroy Senaka in his bedroom by the 

 breath of their nostrils. 



Often we find stories of men staying as guests in some Naga 

 king's palace and enjoying all its luxury, sometimes for seven 

 days ^, sometimes even for a whole year *. The most interesting 

 of all the Naga tales is the Bhuridatta-jataka ^ We read there 



' about "the Naga world beneath the ocean" ^ and about the Naga 

 palace "beneath the Yamuna's sacred stream" ', but at the same 

 time the Naga maidens, frightened by the Alambayana spell, a 

 serpent spell obtained from a Garuda-king ^, "sank into the 

 earth", and the "jewel of luck" \ which "grants all desires" '", 

 when falling on the ground "went through it and was lost in 



1 In nr 112 of Chavannes' Contes et Apologues (Vol. II, p. 382) a Naga king causes 

 a king to understand all animals. 



2 Vol. VI, p. 82, Book XXII, nr 543. 



3 Vol. IV, p. 281, Book XV, nr 506. 



4 Vol. V, p. 84, Book XVII, nr 524. In nrs 94 and 207 of Chavannes' Contes et 

 Apologues (Vol. I, p. 358, Vol. II, p. 87) an Arhat daily flies with his bed to the 

 palace of a Naga king, where he receives food. 



5 Vol. VI, pp. 80—113, Book XXII, nr 543. 



6 P. 80. 7 P. 107. 8 Pp. 93, 95. 

 9 P. 91. 10 P. 94. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



