Vedic Mythology c7.s6.6

c7.s6.6

§ 65. Survival of prehistoric notions. — The primitive conception that man does not differ essentially from beast, has left a few traces in the form of a belief in beings of the werewolf order. These are represented by the man-tigers (VS. 30, 8; ŚB. 13, 2, 4²)¹¹ and by the Nāgas, human beings in appearance but in reality serpents, which are first mentioned under this name in the Sūtras² (AGS. 3, 4¹). It does not seem likely that the later serpent worship had any connexion with the myth of the Vṛtra serpent, but its development was probably due rather to the influence of the aborigines. For on the one hand there is no trace of it in the RV., and on the other it has been found prevailing very widely among the non-Aryan Indians. The Aryans doubtless found the cult extensively diffused among the natives when they spread over India, the land of serpents³.