Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India

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Naga

Read about Naga at Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Mythica.

NAGA. [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] A snake, especially the cobra-capella.

A mythical, semi-divine being, having a human face with the tail of a serpent, and the expanded neck of the cobra. The race of Nagas is said to be a thousand in number, and to have sprung from Kadru, the wife of Kasyapa, for the purpose of people Patala, or the regions below the earth, where they reign in great splendour. From the name of their mother they are called Kadraveyas. Their mother is sometimes called Surasa.

This dominion was taken from them by the Gandharvas, but they recovered it through their sister, the Narmada river, who induced Vishnu to send Pratardana to their assistance.

Their females were handsome, and some of them intermarried with me, as Ulupi with Arjuna.


Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: October 16, 2007 12:22 PM