________________ XXII NAYAKUMARACARIU in the present work as well as elsewhere. "My idea is," says Rai Bahadur Hiralal "that the tract below the Satpuras down to the Godavari, including the Nagpur and the Chanda districts, Bastar State and parts of the Raipur and Drug districts once formed the Naga kingdom with the capital located at Bhogavati or Ramateka which occupies a central position." At one end of the Ramateka hills is what is called Nagarjuna hill. It has already been mentioned how Nagarjuna is said to have acquired some of his learning from the Nagas. The whole locality is, thus, still resounding with the echoes of the bygone Naga supremacy and above all in the name of Nagpur in the vicinity of Ramateka. Conclusion--To sum up, the references given above go to prove that1. The Nagas were men of flesh and blood and not mere mythical names. early times down almost to the present day, but they ceased to wield political power after the fourteenth century. 3. They had a culture of their own which appeared rather peculiar, in the early stages, to the Aryans who gradually began to associate more freely and even frequently entered into matrimonial alliances with them. 4. The present day Naga tribes of the Naga hills in Assam and other places probably represent the backward elements of the great Naga race of Pauranic fame. 5. Patala, their chief abode, was probably a general term meaning low lands. One such abode was the southern side of the Satpuras where their traditional capital Bhogavati existed in the vicinity of the present day Nagpur. 6. The Nagas were well known for founding great seats of learning, as for example Taxila. Another such seat appears to have existed near Nagpur where Nagarjuna, the Buddhist philosopher, had his education. Nagaloka and the presentday Nagpur-We may now conclude that Puspadanta, while writing the present work about 965 A. D, at Malkhed, probably had in his mind the Nagaloka round about Nagpur, and the falling of the hero, while yet young, in a well and his adoption by a Naga who taught him various arts and sciences, is his allegorical and poetic description of the hero's corning to the country of the Nagas, like Nagarjuna, for education, Nagpur, thus, appears to have been a great seat of learning in the past and it is in the fitness of things that the present day Nagpur University has selected the snake-symbol for its coat-of-arms. 10. Analysis of the work. 1. The author begins his work with an invocation of the goddess of Speech and goes on to tell us how he was induced to write it, amongst others, by Nanna the minister of Krsnaraja alias Vallabharaja of Manyakheta. He then tells us how King Srenika of Rajaglha waited upon Tirthamkara Mahavira and inquired of him about the fruit of observing the fast of Sripaicmi. The latter's disciple Gautama complied with the king's request. Formerly there was a town named Kanakapura in the Magadha country, ruled Srodhara. Once a merchant named Vasava, on his return from a trade-voyage, waited upon the king with many presents amongst which was a female portrait. This P.P.AC. Gunratnasuri M.S. Jun Gun Aaradhak Trust
