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Lord Mahāvira's Religious Contemporaries and Sects
193
NĀGA WORSHIP
Naga worship seems to have a non-Aryan origin. Its emergence as a cult may be traced to the time of the civilization of Mohenjodāro as it is clear from the two seals where it appears in an attitude of devotion to a figure in Yogic posture. It appears that this cult was adopted by the Aryans partly as a consequence of the absorption of non-Aryan deities into the Brahmanical fold, and partly as a protection against snake-bites.
References to Nāga-worship, like those to the worship of Yakshas, are abundant in the Jainal and the Buddhist sources. Jainism and Buddhism bad to admit the serpent in a subordinate capacity in their own religious systems. Pārsvanātha has a serpent as his special symbol. It is said that the Buddha received the homage of Muchilinda and Elāpattra. The Buddha advised the Bhikshus to honour the royal families of the Nāgas, so that they could be protected from snakc-bites, and the regions which were covered with dense forests may have given impetus to snake worship. As Magadha was originally a non-Aryan land, it remained a centre of Nāga worship from the earliest times. The Mahābhārata refers to the images and temples of the Nāgas at Rājagriha. The Buddhist sources tell us that the Nagas were worshipped by the offerings of milk, rice, fish, meat, strong drink, and the like. According to the Gțihya-sūtras, they were offered fricd grain, flour of fried barley, and flour over which ghee had been poured." TREE WORSHIP
That the trce was a non-Aryan object of worship is clear from some of the seals of the Indus-Valley Civilization. These scals show that the Pippal tree was worshipped by the people in two forins, i.e., in its natural forn and in thic form of the spirit of the tree which was shown cmerging from thic irce. Because of the absorption of the non-Aryan uribcs in the Iryan fold, many non-Aryan objects of worship were also gradually incorporatcd in Bralumanism. 1. Maya 2. Ja, I. 498; 11, 149. 3. ibid. 1998. 4. SBE, XXIX, pp. 1.8.29: 201-2; 3:1-3).
