Haruy's Manual of .Buddhism ' gives the follo wing details^on:: 

 _eerning the Nagas. /"TheNagas reside in Ihe loka (world) under 

 the Trikutar-Totrfes'that support Meru, and in the waters^of the 

 world of men. They have the shape TitThe spectacle-snake, with 

 /the^^extended hood (coluber naga); but many actions are^ attri- 

 buted— to them that can only be done by one possessing^ the 

 hurnan form. They are demi-gods, and have many enjoyments; 

 and they are usually represented as being favourable to BuddhaTand 

 hi&^ilh«feM'syhut7wEenrthBir^wf^^ 



of a formidable character". With regard to Mount Meru Hardy 

 says: "The summit is the abode of Sekra (Qakra), the regent or 

 chief of the dewaloka called Tawutisa (Trayastrimgat) ; and around 

 it are four mansions, 5000 yojanas in size, inhabited by nagas, 

 garundas, khumbandas, and yakas" 2. In describing the dewa- 

 lokas he says: "The palace of Virupaksha is on the west. His 



Devas also belong to the Eight classes. But according to Eitel, the ancient Chinese 

 phrase speaks of "Nagas, Devas and (others of) the eight classes ( S|| ^^ A, ^^ ). I 

 never found them enumerated in this order in the Chinese siit^'as, for the Devas were 

 always placed before the Nagas. Moreover, in the jstakas and avadanas the Devas 

 always precede the Nagas in the often repeated order of beings. In the "Sutra on the 

 original vow of the Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha" (Nakjo's Catalogue, nr 1003, translated 

 from Sanscrit into Chinese at the end of the seventh century), p. 26, the terms 

 ^ ■^g J^ )|jft , "Devas, Nagas, Demons and Spirits", and ^ §& f\^ -^ , "Devas 

 Nagas, and (the remaining of) the Eight Classes", are met side by side. I often found 

 the phrase Tenryu hachibu in Japanese works. This is, of course, the logical order, as 

 the Devas are of higher rank in the system of the world than the Nagas and there- 

 fore ought to be mentioned before the latter. The fact that the Devas belong to the 

 eight classes is stated in the Ta-Ming san-tsang fah shu, "Numbers (i. e. numerical 

 terms and phrases) of the Law of the Tripitaka, collected under the Great Ming dynasty" 

 (Nanjo, nr 1621), Ch. 33, p. 13 sq., s. v. J\^ •^ , where they are enumerated as 

 Devas, Nagas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras and Mahoragas. 



There is, however, a second phrase, namely "Men, Devas and (the remaining of) the 

 Eight Classes", ^ ^ ^ ^ , which we find in the Sulralamkara gastra (Nanjo, 

 nr 1182, Great Japanese Trip, of Leiden, Ch. X, p. 4a and 6), in two passages where the 

 Buddhas Qakyamuni and Maitreya are said to honour Mahakacyapa "before men, Devas 

 and (the remaining of) the eight classes". Huber {Sutralamkara, nr 56, pp. 278 seq.) 

 translates : "Les huit classes des Devas", but the Devas are not divided into eight 

 classes and the character ^ (men) belongs, of course, to the same sentence and not to 

 the preceding one. Men precede Devas when the different beings are enumerated, and 

 the initial phrase of the Avadanas gives us their names : Men, Devas, Nagas, Yakshas, 

 Asaras, Garudas, Kinnai-as and Mahoragas (cf. also Huber, 1.1., pp. 462 seq. ; Chavannes. 

 Cinq cents conies el apologues extraits du Tripitaka chinois (1910), Vol. Ill, p. 61). 



If the former phrase actually is found sometimes in ancient Chinese books in the 

 wrong form given by Edkins, the Nagas being placed before the Devas (I think I saw 

 it once also in a Japanese work), this mistake must have risen from blending the for- 

 mer phrase with the latter, which mentions the Devas in the second nlace. 



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