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appear as clouds themselves to terrify mankind. Northern Bud- 

 dhism , however, made these frightful beings the rain-giving 

 benefactors of men, to whom prayers for rain were sent up by 

 means of special ceremonies. These rites were performed also in 

 China and Japan. As to the division of the Nagas into four 

 castes: "Heavenly, Divine, Earthly and Hidden Nagas", this is 

 probably also a Northern feature, for I did not find it mentioned 

 anywhere in the Jatakas. Indian Buddhist art represents the 

 Nagas as serpents, or as men or women with snakes coming 

 out of their necks and rising over their heads, or as snake- 

 tailed beings with human upper bodies and snakes appearing 

 above their heads. Hot winds and hot sand, sudden violent 

 storms and Garuda-kings are what the Nagas fear most. When 

 strictly observing Buddhist fasting, they may be reborn as men. 



In Book I we have stated how the oldest Chinese books spoke 

 of dragons in divination, as ornaments of clothes, and as river- 

 gods who caused high floods by their fights. As they belonged 

 to the four ling ("spiritual beings"), full of Tang (Light), they 

 were omens of the birth of great men, especially of emperors, 

 and of felicity in general, like the dragon-horses, but also of 

 death and ruin, when they were seen fighting, or when their 

 dead bodies were found, or when they appeared at wrong times 

 or in wrong places. The Emperors were not only called dragons 

 and compared to them, but were sometimes even considered to 

 be their offspring, or to have them in their service. The dragons 

 ascended to the sky, riding on winds -and clouds, and were ridden 

 by the sien, or they descended into the deepest wells. Their 

 transformations were limitless. They could become small like 

 silkworms or so big that they covered the world '. Their wisdom 

 excelled that of all other animals, and their blessing power was 

 great. Next to these ideas, which made them the favourite sub- 

 jects of poets and artists, a great many lower concepjtions are 

 found, prevalent among the people from olden times. 



The principal water-god is the kiao-lung, the scaly dragon; 

 other important dragonB are the ying-lung (which has wings), 

 the ¥iu-lung (which has a horn) and the cJii-lung (which is blue 

 and has no horn). Then, there are several other kinds of dragons, 

 but all of them are afraid of iron, the loang plant, centipedes, the 

 leaves of the melia azederach, and five-coloured silk-thread, while 

 their principal / enemies are tigers and the demons of drought 



1 This must be the meaning of Kwan tsze 's words (quoted on p. 63), instead of 

 the obscure "lies hidden in the world". 



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