Nayakumarchariu

Author(s): Pushpadant, Hiralal Jain
Publisher: Balatkaragana Jain Publication Society

Page 39

NAYAKUMARACARIU
suggests that it was a settlement of the Nāgas. (Cun. Geo. p. 483.). In the Nepalese legend the Nāgas appear as the original inhabitants of the swamps opened up by the civilizing Manjusri driven out by whom they took refuge in the Nāgaloka, which, to the Nepalese, is Tibet The Tibetan records also speak of Nāgas and Nāgaloka which, in their case, is China. Mahāyāna tradition asserts that it was a Nāga king who revealed to Nāgārjuna in the Nāgaloka, the holy text of the Avatamsaka or Kegan scripture. (Creed of Half Japan p 10).
Nagas in the Jaina Puranas :-The Jaina Purānas contain many references to Nāgas or Nāgakumaras who are recognised as forming one of the ten classes of Bhavanendras or Bhavanavāsi-devas having their abode in Pätäla which is also called Nāgaloka (HP IV, 63-65; VIII, 72 etc.). One of them, Dharanendra Naga has been particularly associated with the twenty-third Tirthankara, Pārsvanātha whom he protected during his penances against the attack of Kamathāsura (Uttara P.; Uttaradh. p. 688 ). This is said to have taken place at Ahicchatrapura which drives its name from that event. The place is identified with the modern Nāgor in Jodhpur State, which is regarded as a place of pilgrimage by the Jainas. Nāgas appear to have held sway there as even the modern name of the place suggests. In the Sthānanga Sūtra (p. 357 ) we are told that among the five commanders of king Nagendrakumara, Rudrasena was the commander of the infantry.
Nagas in Tamil Literature :-Nāgas are mentioned even in the Tamil Sangam literature. In Nachchinarkkiniyar, for example, the Tiryar lords of Vengadam are connected with the Nāga princes (SIJ p. 143). Dubreil, in his Antiquities of the Pallavas, says that the Pallavas had marital relations with the Nāga princes and that there was every reason to believe that the latter came from the sea. It appears that the Tiryar of the Sangam books are identical with the Pallavas. Reviewing the Nāgakumāra story of Mallisena, (MAR 1924 ), Dr. R. Shamasastry, referring to the fact that Nāgakumāra did not marry any Pallava princess, says that 'as the Pallavas had married Näga princesses, the Nâgas, conforming to the Hindu custom of not exchanging daughters in marriage, might have declined to marry Pallava princesses, in return.' This, however, is not correct, for, according to our story, there was not only no ban on marrying maternal uncle's daughter but such marriages were particularly liked ( see ' Picture of palace and public life'). The Nāgas also appear to have been in alliance with the Āndhras of the Talevaka river referred to in the Jātaka stories, and the Sendraka Nāgas were in alliance with the Kadambas. The Sātavābanas are also said to have contracted social relations with the Nāgas (AKJ p. 74, 82).
Nagas in Classical Sanskrit Literature : References to Nāgas are not wanting even in Classical Sanskrit literature. Bāna in his Harsacarita mentions a Nāga king named Nāgasena at Padmavati who lost his life by his secret being divulged by a sărikā bird. Of a particular importance are the references found in the Navasāhasanka-carita of Padmagupta a brief summary of which would not be out of place here
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