History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.480

v6.c81.480

In the Āśv. gṛ II. 1 1-15, the Pāraskara-gṛhya II. 14 and other gṛhya sūtras a rite called 'sarpabali' (offering to serpents) was performed on the Full Moon day of Śrāvaṇa Vide H. of Dh. vol II. pp 821-823 for a description The nāgas figure frequently in the Mahābhārata Vide Ādi. chap. 35 enumerating the names of many nāgas beginning with Śeṣa and chap 123. 71, Udyoga 103 9-16 (naming numerous nāgas) Arjuna while engaged in his twelve years' vow of brahmacarya came to the country of the Nāgas (probably a tribe that had nāga as their emblem) and took as his wife Ulūpī, a Nāga princess who was smitten by love. Babhruvāhana, son of Citrāṅgadā, fought with Arjuna who had come to Maṇipura for protecting the Aśvamedha horse, was killed by Babhruvāhana and restored to life with the help of a Sañjīvana jewel (Āśvamedhikaparva chap. 79–81). Serpents came to be associated with both Viṣṇu and Śiva. Viṣṇu is said to sleep on the hoods of Śeṣa-nāga (Vanaparva 203. 12 and 272. 38–39) and Śiva wears serpents on his body like yajñopavīta (Anuśāsana 14. 55).³²⁵ In the Bhagavadgītā X. 28–29 Lord Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with Vāsuki among serpents and Ananta among nāgas What difference is made between 'sarpa' and 'nāga' is not clear. Probably 'sarpa' means all creeping things, while nāga means 'the cobra'. The Purāṇas are full of stories about nāgas Vide J. Ph. Vogel's painstaking work (Indian Serpent Lore, 1926) based on the Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and the Rājataraṅgiṇī. It appears that serpent worship arose gradually from the fear of serpents that must have taken a heavy toll of life, particularly at the beginning of the rainy season. Even in these days about 10000 people die of snake-bite every year in India, while persons killed by all wild animals are hardly 3000 Why the tithi was changed from Full Moon (for Sarpabali in the gṛhya sūtras) to the 5th of the bright half is not clear. It may be due to the slight change in the time of the onset of rains owing to the precession of the equinoxes. Vide Fergusson's 'Tree and Serpent worship' pp. 1–75 and Plate XV which reproduces the sculptures on the eastern gateway of Sanchi, where occurs the figure of five-headed Nāga. Stone images of serpents under sacred trees like pippala are common in the Dravida country and a few temples dedicated to nāgas exist such as the one at Battis Shirālen in Satara District and at Bhom-parānden in Hyderabad.