Note 38 — CHAPTER 5

Figuratively, the country of the ‘head of the Snakes’; Nag, Tak, or Takshak, being synonymous: and which I conclude to be the abode of the ancient Scythic Tachari of Strabo, the Tak-i-uks of the Chinese, the Tajiks of the present day of Turkistan. This race appears to be the same with that of the Turushka (of the Puranas), who ruled on the Arvarma (the Araxes), in Sakadwipa, or Scythia. [This is a confused reference to the Saisunāga dynasty, which took its name from its founder, Sisunāga, and comprised roughly the present Patna and Gaya districts, its capital being Rājagriha; the modern Rājgīr-Sisunāga means ‘a young elephant,’ and has no connexion with Sheshnāg, the serpent king (Vishnu Purana, 466 f.; Smith, EHI, 31).]