Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c17.58

c17.58

NĀGAS—The Nāga iconography stands parallel to that of the Yaksha in its popularity, wide background and antiquity. The Nāga images were mostly of human form with the serpent coils and canopy of hoods added to them. But thereomorphic images were also made. The drinking cup in the left hand and the abhayamudrā of the right hand marked them out as full-fledged divinities. In earlier art their bodies half-emerging from the water indicate their origin in water cosmology; and later on they were installed near pools of water showing them as guardians of watery stores of the under world. Their king Dhṛitarāshṭra was one amongst the four lokapāla gods. Although the Nāga cult was the most-ancient, even preceding that of the Yaksha, their iconography was simple.