Note 140 — Chapter II · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.

Another power snakes possess is that of identifying the rightful heirs of kingdoms, and, as in the case of Drona, who found the Ahîr Adirâja sleeping in the shade of the hood of a cobra, announce that he is born to rule.140 So in the mythology the Nâga king Machalinda spreads his hood over the Buddha to protect him from the rain and flies.141 Many of these Nâgas indeed are friendly, as in the case of the Banjâra, who, in order to avoid octroi duty, declared his valuable goods to be Glauber salts, and Glauber salts they became until they were restored to their original condition by the intercession of the kindly Nâga of the Gundwa tank.142 In one of Somadeva’s tales the friendly snake clings round the Râja till he promises to release the Bodhisattwa out of prison.