The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c19.3

c19.3

The most powerful people with whom the early Aryans first contended for the possession of Indian soil were probably the Nâgas, who figure so conspicuously in ancient Indian sculpture with their remarkable serpent crest, or headdress. They must not be confused with the mythical people, with bodies half-human, half-snake, inhabiting rivers, lakes, and seas and also the sky and the regions below the earth, which appear in the same sculptures. The origin of the Nâgas is as yet unknown : possibly their choice of a snake totem indicates that they were originally mariners and came to India oversea. After they had been driven out of the valley of the Ganges and the Jumna by the Aryans, they probably remained as the principal power of the Dekhan for many centuries. They were among the first of the non-Aryan people to come under the influence of the Buddha’s teaching, which must have brought them within the pale of Aryan civilisation; but except for some in-definite poetical allusions to them in the Mahâbhârata and the Râmâyana nothing has been recorded of their history.