1899.] 
LOWER COURSE OF THE YITASTA. 
115 
Legends of Maha- 
padma Naga. 
texts. 1 It is also used, as we have seen, in tlie description of Kasmir 
given by the T'ang annals. 
The name Ullola from which the present Volur (vulgo 1 Woolar ’) 
seems to be derived, is found only in one passage of Jonaraja’s Chronicle 
and in a single modern Mahatmya. 8 Skr. ullola can be interpreted to 
mean ‘ turbulent ’ or ‘ [the lake] with high-going waves.’ 3 Those who 
have experienced the sensation of crossing the lake with a strong wind, 
will readily allow the appropriateness of this designation. Yet it is 
impossible to dismiss altogether the suspicion that the name which 
seems wholly unknown to the older texts, may be only a clever adapta¬ 
tion of the Kasmiri name Yolur or its earlier representative. It is cer¬ 
tainly curious that in modern Mahatmyas we meet with Ullola as a nam 
for the Vulgar Pargana, the genuine ancient designation of which is 
Holada. 4 * Jonaraja in his commentary on STikanthacarita, iii. 9, uses 
Ullola as a paraphrase for Mahapadma. 
74. From an early date various legends seem to have clustered 
around this, the greatest of Kasmir lakes. The 
Nilamata relates at length how the lake be¬ 
came the habitation of the Mahapadma Naga. 6 
Originally it was occupied by the wicked Naga Sadahgula who 
used to carry off the women of the country. Nila, the lord of Kasmir 
Nagas, banished Sadahgula to the laud of the Darvas. The site left 
dry on his departure was occupied by a town called Gandrapura under 
King Visvagasva. The Muni Durvasas not receiving hospitable recep¬ 
tion in this town, cursed it and foretold its destruction by water. When 
subsequently the Naga Mahapadma sought a refuge in Kahnir and 
asked Nila for the allotment of a suitable habitation, he was granted 
permission to occupy Gandrapura. The Mahapadma Naga thereupon, 
approached King Visvagasva in the disguise of an old Brahman and 
asked to be allowed to settle in the town with his family. When his 
prayer was agreed to he shewed himself in his true form and announced 
to the King the approaching submersion of his city. At the Naga’s 
direction the King with his people emigrated and founded two Yojanas 
further west the new town of Visvagasvapura. The Naga then converted 
the city into a lake, henceforth his and his family’s dwelling place. A 
recollection of this legend still lives in popular tradition, and the ruins of 
the doomed city are supposed to be sighted occasionally in the water. 
1 For detailed references see Raj at. iv. 593 note. 
2 See Jonar. (Bo. ed.) 1227-30; Dhyanesvaramah. 30, 33. 
3 See Buhler, Report , p. 9. 
4; See Vitastdmah. v. 48; Haridrdganesamdh. 
6 See Mlamata, 976-1008, and Buhler, Rej)ort, p. 10, 
