Naga

“ Some camels were procured for the next morning, and I rode off with Abeken, Erbkam, and Maximilian Weidenbach at nine o’clock for Naga. So are the ruins of a city and several temples named, which lie in the eastern wilderness, at a distance of seven or eight hours from the Nile. From our landing-place, near the only palm group of the whole region, we only wanted half an hour to the village of Ben Naga, which lies in Wadi Teresîb. ”

“ He refers also to a town in Gandhara in Northern India, which in consequence of an earthquake “sank a distance of 400 yojanas to Naga-nadu.” [8] From these allusions it is evident that the Tamil poets of this period had a very hazy idea of the ancient Nagas and their country. They believed, in fact, that the Nagas inhabited Pâthâla or the lower world, far below the surface of the earth. Of contemporary Naga tribes and kingdoms they give a more satisfactory account. ”

“ From the Mahabharata we learn that there were Naga kingdoms between the Jumna and the Ganges about the 13th century B. C. When the kings of the Lunar race of Aryas wanted to found a second capital near the spot where Delhi stands at present, they had to dislodge the Nagas who occupied it. Arjuna, the hero of the poem, in his banishment, is said to have married first Ulipi, the daughter of a Naga king, then Chitrangadai, daughter of Chitravahana, the Naga king of Manipura. ”

“ Most Nagas for instance reap with a reaping-hook, but the Sema, like the Manö and Southern Brè (Karens) of Burma,27 and like the Garos,28 use their hand only, stripping the grain from the stalk straight into the basket, a most painful method if it does save threshing.
The use of terraced cultivation forms a very marked point of distinction between Naga tribes. ”

“ Among the Lhota Naga, one of the many savage tribes who inhabit the deep rugged labyrinthine glens which wind into the mountains from the rich valley of Brahmapootra, it used to be a common custom to chop off the heads, hands, and feet of people they met with, and then to stick up the severed extremities in their fields to ensure a good crop of grain. ”

“ All Naga tribes also have legends of clans descended from indigenous women out of caves or wild men caught in the jungle and tamed, whose descendants are now no longer distinguishable except by this tradition from the rest of the tribe. ”

“ Both Nagas (snakes) and Garudas (eagles or secretary birds) were included in northern India among the gods and demons who worshipped Buddha. The Nagas understood the language of birds. They gave charms to human beings so that they might share this knowledge. In European and Arabian stories folk-heroes acquire the language of birds, or of all animals, after eating the hearts of dragons. A Naga king causes an Indian king to understand what animals say.11
“The jewel that grants all desires” is possessed by the Indian Nagas, as it is by Chinese and Japanese dragons. ”

“ Only he will keep his money.
[207]
1 Naga folk-lore in general has much in common with that of other races of Mongolian affinities. Thus the Naga (Angami) and Kachari story of the origin of the domestication of certain animals as opposed to the rest is akin to the Lapp story given by Mr. Andrew Lang under the title of “The Elf Maiden,” in his Brown Fairy Book. The Angami story is to be found in The Angami Nagas, Part IV., the Terhengi Genna, and the Kachari version in Soppitt, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Kachari Tribes of the North Cachar Hills, p. 56. ”

“ Bhikshu is the name for a monk as “living by alms,” a mendicant. All bhikshus call themselves Sramans. Sometimes the two names are used together by our author.
(3) Naga is the Sanskrit name for the Chinese lung or dragon; often meaning a snake, especially the boa. “Chinese Buddhists,” says Eitel, p. 79, “when speaking of nagas as boa spirits, always represent them as enemies of mankind, but when viewing them as deities of rivers, lakes, or oceans, they describe them as piously inclined.” ”

“ Every Burman knows in what direction is the awful naga's head at a given season. No love nor money will tempt them to travel through the jungle in that direction, in unfamiliar territory.
Naga-worship once prevailed in northern [Pg 138] India. Whether imported into Burma, or also existing in Burma before the introduction of Indian influences in the north, is not known. But up to the eleventh century naga-worship was the most conspicuous feature in the observances of both spirit-worshippers and nominal Buddhists. ”

“ Nadin, Kĕtan nadin, the kĕtan paddy which is losing its qualities of Kĕtan and turning to Pare bĕnĕr or true paddy, a thing which the natives say sometimes takes place.
Naga, a fabulous serpent, a dragon. Naga, C. 315, the hooded snake or Cobra Capella; a serpent in general; the Hindu Dragon.
Nagasari, name of a tree, also called Pung, Acacia Pedunculata.
Nagasari, name of another tree, Mesua ferrea.
Nagara, a country; a region; a chief town. The capital of a country where the chiefs reside as contradistinguished from the villages or distant provinces. Nagara, C. 306, a town; a city. ”

“ The principal of these, in point of numbers, are the Nagas, who inhabit the hills and forests along the eastern and south-eastern frontier of Assam. They reside partly in the British district of the Naga hills and partly in independent territory under the political control of the deputy-commissioner of the adjoining districts. They cultivate rice, cotton, yams and Indian corn, and prepare salt from the brine springs in their hills. The different tribes of Nagas are independent of and unconnected with one another, and are often at war with each other. ”

“ After four and a half hours from Ben Naga, we arrived at a solitary mountain in the wilderness, named Buêrib. This lay between the little southwestern wadis (so they call even the most level{163} sinkings of the plain, when the water runs off, and which we should scarcely call valleys) and the great wide Wadi Auatêb, into which we now descended, after we had passed the Buêrib at a little distance to the left. In three and three quarter hours from Buêrib, we came to the ruins of Naga. ”

“ The niece of the king of Kalyani was married to a Naga king of the Kanawaddamano mountain, which was evidently Kandamadanam, a hill near the modern Ramesvaram on the Indian coast, opposite to Kalyani. In the ancient sculptures at Amaravati and elsewhere which were executed more than eighteen hundred years ago, the human figures, which are represented with serpent hoods spread wide at the back of them, are Nagas. ”

“ While the cross-bow is the weapon of Singphos, and has been adopted from them apparently by the Naga tribes of the north-east in direct or indirect communication with them, it is not in general use among the Naga tribes.25 The simple bow is also not the natural weapon of a Naga. While the Kukis, before they acquired guns, relied, like the Khasis, principally on the bow, the Naga rarely uses it. ”

“ Some at any rate are not of Naga manufacture. One which was shown me at Okotso, for instance, was ornamented with brass bands. The usual tradition, however, gives the Lhotas an autochthonous origin, and is almost identical with that told by the Angamis of themselves. The story goes that three brothers, Limhachan, Izumontse and Rankhanda, the ancestors of the three phratries of the tribe, came out of a hole in the earth near the miraculous stone at Kezakenoma. If one load of rice were dried on this stone it became two loads. ”

“ When the white men had eaten their supper, they decided to profit by the friendliness of these peaceable villagers. To hold a palaver would be a difficult matter, since Sher Jang had to interpret Forrester to the Naga, and the Naga to translate to the village head-man. But the opportunity of gaining some clue to their destination was too good to be neglected. It was a strange scene in that forest glade, illuminated by the camp fires on opposite sides. The three white men sat in front of the tent, their followers ranging themselves on the wings. ”

“ The ancient Tamil poets appear to have shared this belief, for, they speak of the Nagas who were contemporary with them, as human beings, while at the same time they describe the ancient Nagas as serpents living underground. In describing the antiquity and wealth of Kaviripaddinam, the Chola capital, the author of the Chilappathikaram states that it was as ancient and famous as the
Metropolis of the Nagas and the Naga-nadu. ”

“ It was often very difficult to procure food for the men, and they had more than [270] once to go without dinner when they got in at night, though as a rule they had half-rations. We had managed to get a supply of rice from one of the Naga villages situated near the road.
The Nagas were for the most part friendly disposed towards us, but here and there they gathered together near their villages, which they had deserted for the meanwhile, and had a stray shot at us as we passed along. We never burned these villages, thinking they might be useful to the troops when they should return. ”

“ The Sanskrit name of the snake, ‘nâga,’ becomes also the accepted designation of its adorers, and thus mythological interpretation has to reduce to reasonable sense legends of serpent-races who turn out to be simply serpent-worshippers, tribes who have from the divine reptiles at once their generic name of Nâgas, and with it their imagined ancestral descent from serpents. ”

“ Each tribe seems ever jealous of its neighbour; and cruel hostilities, ending in the most tragical manner—even to the extermination of a tribe and the total destruction of its cattle, stores, and property—are often the result of their mutual animosity. The form of the Naga government is democratical; each clan seems to be ruled by a president and two subordinates or deputies, who form the executive. The president is called Khonbao, and the deputies Sundekae and Khonsae: the one prime minister, and the latter a chief over twenty houses. ”

“ When the seven days were over and the rain had ceased, the Naga quitted his position; then assuming the appearance of a young man, he prostrated himself before Buddha and worshipped him. Buddha said: "He who aims at obtaining [Pg 107] the state of Neibban ought to possess the knowledge of the four roads leading thereto, as well as that of the four great truths and of all laws. ”

“ There are many tribes in India who have assumed the name of Nagas or Serpents from the earliest times. Diodorus supposes that the snake had been used as their crest or banner. There are three kinds of serpent-worship practised in India, and each is peculiar to a distinct class of people, although all the natives of India, except the Mohammedans, either from dread of the deadly serpent or from a feeling of veneration, join in the festival of the naga-poojmi. ”

“ Naglok (snakeland) was at an early period a Hindu name for hell. But the Nagas were not real snakes,—in that case they might have fared better,—but an aboriginal tribe in Ceylon, believed by the Hindus to be of serpent origin,—‘naga’ being an epithet for ‘native.’2 The Singhalese, on the other hand, have adapted the popular name for demons in India, ‘Rakshasa,’ in their Rakseyo, a tribe of invisible cannibals without supernatural powers (except invisibility) , who no doubt merely embody the traditions of some early race. ”

“ The Nāga then took up his abode in a lonely spot. When seven days had passed, the hunter hid himself near that place. The serpent-charmer came and began to prepare the offerings and utensils, driving in the pegs of [49] Khadira-wood at the four corners, attaching various threads of divers colours, and reciting spells. When the water began to seethe, the hunter sped an arrow from his bow, and then drew his sword from its sheath and cried, “Will you carry off the Nāga who dwells in our land by means of spells? Reverse your spell. ”

“ Again, there is a rare Tangkhul dao with a long projection behind resembling a common type of Igorot dao, while the stone hammer used by all Naga smiths could scarcely be distinguished from a similar hammer from the Philippines.23
With the Kol-Mon-Annam family the shouldered hoe (see Gurdon, The Khasis, p. 12) has been intimately associated. ”

“ Beyond this, whatever the Singphos and Kacharis may be, an admixture of Tai blood from the east is beyond dispute. It is the nature of the immigration from the south which is most intriguing. No one who has had much to [xxxvii] do with the Angamis could fail to perceive the difference of disposition and character between them and the other Naga tribes, though it is very difficult to state in what it actually consists, and it is certainly not so great as to constitute an entire distinction between the Angamis and the rest of their fellow-Nagas. ”

“ Repairing thither, thou shouldst put to him the questions thou wishest. He will show thee truly what the highest religion is. That Naga is always fond of guests. Endued with great intelligence, he is well conversant with the scriptures. He is possessed of all desirable virtues the like of which are not to be noticed in any other person. By disposition he is always observant of those duties which are performed with or in water. [1930] He is devoted to the study of the Vedas. He is endued with penances and self-restraint. He has great wealth. ”