The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s8.12

v1.c19.s8.12

Oldenberg⁵ adduces some later evidence which is in itself irrelevant for the Vedic age, since he admits that in the case of the best instance of all, the princes of Chota Nagpur who claim descent from a snake, the belief is probably aboriginal. But what is adduced from the epic is of no value: the name Ikṣvāku, which is known in the Veda, of the line of princes is in sense sugar cane; Ṛkṣa, father of Saṁvaraṇa, a name found in the Rigveda,⁶ means bear, and Sagara’s wife brought forth a cucumber in which were 60,000 sons. The value of such evidence is obviously minimal.⁷ Moreover, it must be remembered that such legends need have nothing whatever to do with totemism at all, but may simply belong to the very old idea which draws no persistent or accurate distinction between men on the one hand, and animals on the other. Of such ideas there are remains not merely in the theriomorphism of the gods, which is undeniable and clear, but also in such fictions as that of the genus man-tiger which is found from the Yajurveda¹ onwards, and which in post-epic religion has its classical example in the man-lion incarnation of Viṣṇu, but also in the Nāgas, who are first so called in the Sūtras,² and who according to the later tradition were human beings in appearance but really serpents. This view is widely spread in later India and results in the solemn question being put to initiates into the Buddhist community whether they were men or Nāgas, the latter kind of being being excluded from the privilege of becoming a member of the Saṅgha.