kings Nanda and Upananda (who were said so have bathed the 

 new-born Buddha and to have played a part in many episodes 

 of his life) created an enormous, magnificent lotus upon which 

 the Master sat down. Then the Buddha by means of his magic 

 power created a great number of Buddhas, seated on lotuses or 

 standing, walking, lying, over his head, up to the highest heavens, 

 and on all sides. This scene is recognized by Foucher on several 

 Indian monuments. Often the two Naga kings are seen under or 

 on both sides of the lotus created by thettiselves. They are 

 represented supporting the lotus in a kneeling attitude, entirely 

 human but with five serpents over their heads ', or with human 

 upper bodies and scaly serpent tails ^. 



In the Jatakas the Nagas are always described as enormous ser- 

 pents ; sometimes, however, they appear in later Indian (i. e. Graeco- 

 Buddhist) art as real dragons, although with the upper part of 

 the body human. So we see them on a relief from Gandhara^, 

 worshipping Buddha's almsbowl, in the shape of big water-dragons, 

 scaled and winged, with two horse-legs, the upper part of the 

 body human. Most remarkable is a picture * which represents 

 Garudas fighting with Nagas before the preaching saint Subhuti. 

 The Nagas are depicted there in all their three forms: common 

 snakes, guarding jewels; hixman beings with four snakes in their 

 necks; and winged sea-dragons, the upper part of the body 

 human, but with a horned, ox-like , head, the lower part of the 

 body that of a coiling dragon. Here_ws--fisd— aHintitretweenJJieL 

 snake of ancient India and the iouTrlegged_^inesfi_dragon. 



§ 2. The Naga according to some translated Buddhist texts. 



After having referred to European scholars with respect to the 

 Naga in Buddhism, we may compare their results with some 

 translated Indian texts. Being not acquainted with the Sanscrit 

 language, we thankfully make use of these translations in order 

 to illustrate the Buddhist dragon tales of China and Japan; for, 

 as I stated already in the Preface, this is the only aim of this 

 Introduction. 



Professor Cowell's '^ translation of the Jataha, the canonical 



1 Pp. 19, 48 seq., fig. 3, a sculpture of the rock-temples of Ajanta; cf. pp. 64 seq., 

 fig. 11; pp. 74 seq., fig. 16, with two Nagis; pp. 58 seq., flg. 8. 



2 P. 56 seq., flg. 7 (sculpture from Magadha). 



3 Grunwedel, Buddh. Kunst in Indien, p. 20, fig. 10. 



4 Gkunwedel, Buddh. in Tibet und der Mongolei, p. 189, flg. 160. 



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