Note 189 — Chapter IX · ÆSCULAPIUS AND THE SERPENT.
Reading edition
The literal meaning of nagas is snakes. In his Indian Arts (London, 1882), Dr. Birdwood says: “The worship of the snake still survives everywhere in India, and at Nagpur was, until very recently, a public danger, from the manner in which the city was allowed to be overrun with cobras.” p. 83.