214 The Fasti* Yoga. [N< 



Naga pushpa, Cahphyllum inophyllum, Naga Falli, the betel-loaf 

 plant (Piper hetle), Ndgaphala (Inchosanthes diceca). Words 1 

 ing ample evidence not only of the Naga origin of the things 

 they indicate, bnt of the Naga influence on the Aryan settlers. 

 The word Naga is also used for an elephant, for lead, and for tin. 

 Even as the word Uzbak was a term of abuse with the V. 

 emperors of Delhi, so was Ndgabit among the Aryan, meaning the 

 veriest rascal. 



In the Yastu Yaga for consecrating a tank, a long pole is sunk in 

 the centre of the new excavation, and this pole in Sanscrit is Xaga 

 yashti, or the Naga pole. In course of the ceremony, several N 

 presiding over the several quarters of the mandalas, are worshipped, 

 and though in later times, the practice of throwing golden images of 

 serpents, frogs, and tortoises, in a freshly excavated tank is observed, 

 the Naga yashti cannot.be said to have any connection with reptiles 

 or snakes. The application of the term Naga to the reptile cla 

 probably due to the fact of the aborigines living in a wild jungly 

 country, infested by snakes, having been snake-charmers, and great 

 adepts in handling and killing such reptiles ; a figure of metonomy, 

 confounding the Naga aborigines with the Naga serpents. 



Atlanta IB worshipped on certain days of the year, and if Ananta 

 were a reptile and not an allegorical myth of eternity and the creator, 

 we should have had all over India, idols of serpents like those of 

 other gods. In no place, however, have we observed an idol of a 

 serpent, made and worshipped, unless as an appendix to idols of 

 some other more important gods, though Manasa and Nagas are 

 common in our ceremonies. Ananta chaturdasi is a common cere- 

 mony. It is performed for fourteen years, and after the completion 

 of the period, the devotee ties round his right arm a cotton string 

 made of fourteen threads having fourteen knots. The ceremony is 

 specially serpentine in its name and forms of worship, but nowhere 

 does the actual reptile appear. Ananta is worshipped as Vishnu, 

 and the cord round the arm, promises perpetual enjoyment of hea- 

 venly bliss. 



Naga panchami is an auspicious day for the worship of the Nagas. 

 On the occasion, Manasa is worshipped in the Euphorbia plant. This 

 is an instance of tree-worship connected with serpents. It may 



