Note 6 — Chapter VI · Bird and Serpent Myths

But the closest analogy to the Chinese dragon is found in India. The Nagas (serpent-gods), which were taken over by the Buddhists, and the Chinese dragons have much in common. “Cobras in their ordinary shape,” writes Dr. Rhys Davids of the Nagas, “they lived beneath the waters like mermen and mermaids, in great luxury and wealth, more especially of gems.” Sometimes the tree-spirits (dryads) are called Nagas. “They could at will, and often did, adopt the human form; and though terrible if angered, were kindly and mild by nature.”6 Kerns says “that the Nagas are water-spirits represented, as a rule, in human shapes, with a crown of serpents on their heads”, and also as “snake-like beings resembling clouds”.7 They are “demi-gods”. Like the Chinese dragons, the Nagas are guardians of the four quarters of the universe. There are withal Nagas in the sea who control winds and tides, and one of the Naga kings is Sagara, who is a Neptune in Japan. The Nagas are also “Lords of the Earth”, and send drought and disease when offended or neglected. Ea, the sea-god of the early Babylonians, was known also as Enki, “The Lord of the Earth”.