25th February 2020
Here are a few selected Resources on the Nagas. The material available is extensive, this short curated bibliography can lead to further amplifications.
Yours in the Dharma,
Samten de Wet
Amy Leigh Allocco, "Fear, Reverence and Ambivalence: Divine Snakes in Contemporary South India." Religions of South Asia 7, 2013, pp. 230-248. [ONLINE @ ACADEMIA]
Asutosh Bhattacharyya, "The Serpent in the Folklore of Bengal," Indian Folk-Lore 1 (1956): 22. [FIND]
Robert Beer, The Handbook of Tibetan and Buddhist Symbols, Serinda, Chicago and London, 2003, pp.72 – 74.
Adam Bégin, Nagas and Ophiolatry in Hindu Culture , 12 June 2014
Lowell W. Bloss, "Nagas and Yakshas." The Encyclopedia of Religion. [ONLINE HERE]
Lowell W. Bloss, The Buddha and the Nāga: A Study in Buddhist Folk Religiosity, History of Religions, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Aug., 1973), p. 37.
Meenu Chib, Naga Worship in Jammu & Kashmir, IJRAR- International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, [Volume 41, Issue 41, Oct. – Dec 2017
Richard S. Cohen, Nāga, Yakṣiṇī, Buddha: Local Deities and Local Buddhism at Ajanta, History of Religions, Vol. 37, No. 4 (May, 1998), pp. 360-400
Robert Decaroli, "The Abode of The Nāga King": Questions of Art, Audience, and Local Deities at the Ajaṇṭā Caves, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 40 (2011), pp. 142-161
Jane Duran, The Nagaraja: Symbol and Symbolism in Hindu Art and Iconography, Journal of Aesthetic Education. 24, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 37-47
Alice Getty, Uga-jin: The Coiled-Serpent God with a Human Head, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1940), pp. 36-48
Herbert Härtel, Aspects of Early Nāga Cult in India, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 124, No. 5243 (October 1976), pp. 663-683
Lotan Dorje (Luodanduojie), Klu in Tibet: Beliefs and Practices, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo.
Abstract
The topic of my thesis is the klu as perceived in Tibetan worldview and as the object of cult. The klu is one of the most emblematic classes of supernatural forces in the world of deities and spirits in Tibet, and their influence on the social-religious life of the Tibetans is significant. They are believed to embody such natural resources and territories as forests, springs, fountains, lakes, oceans, hills, mountains, and even solitary old trees. Particular focus is put on the historical background of the klu as portrayed in textual sources, actual concepts and practices connected with the klu as they appear in the area of study. Specific attention is given to the problems of classifying the klu in Tibetan cosmology and the ambivalence connected with this class of beings. Further, this study also discusses how beliefs and practices of the klu are evident not only in texts, religious rituals and but also in everyday activities. As the main themes of this research, I intend to delineate the role of the klu in the Tibetan cultural area primarily based on religious texts as well as local perceptions, supplemented by individual accounts and practices in Kyagya (sKya rgya) , a Tibetan village in Jantsa (gCan tsha) Tibetan autonomous County in Amdo (A mdo), and in the Tibetan communities nearby. This study, is divided into five sections on the basis of the following themes: an introduction to the study being chapter one, a general background to the study being chapter two, the virtuous klu and the non-virtuous aspects of the klu being chapter three, ritual practices being chapter four, and a concluding chapter. The first chapter presents a general introduction to the study by presenting a general overview of the cult of the klu in Tibet, the importance of this current research, research history, materials and methodology used in this study, experiences and outcomes from fieldwork research, bias and reliability of the material and ends with an outline of this study. The second chapter centers on the general background to the klu cult providing some insights into its characteristics as described in the Tibetan literary tradition. This chapter first provides a general sketch of the Indian background of the klu followed by sections reflecting on its Tibetan background, typological considerations, cosmological classification, and caste division presenting different viewpoints on how it originated, and how it survived and adapted to the ever-changing socio-religious life of the Tibetan people. The third chapter discusses the klu in two categories: one is the klu on the side of virtue, supported by their divine characteristics and positive aspects in the Tibetan cultural context. The other type is the klu on the side of non-virtuous and demonic, supported by presenting the negative aspects of the klu, such as their destructive aspects connected with disease, as well as environmental and weather-related disasters. The fourth chapter focuses on topics surrounding ritual practices concerning the klu and provides descriptions of relevant texts."
Jakub Kocurek, Tree Beings in Tibet: Contemporary Popular Concepts of klu and gnyan as a Result of Ecological Change, Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, Vol 7, No 1 (2013) (Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian National Museum, University of Tartu.) [ONLINE HERE]
Abstract
"The article deals with the perception of trees in Tibet. It focuses on ideas on supernatural beings believed to dwell in trees, particularly klu and gnyan, which form a part of the popular or so called nameless religion. The study is based on fieldwork undertaken in the Tibetan areas of India and Nepal (the Spiti valley and Dolpo) among people of Dolpo origin living elsewhere and Tibetans in exile from different regions of Tibet. Gathered narratives and reappearing myth patterns are presented and discussed. The findings from the fieldwork are compared with the idea of tree beings found in ritual texts studied by Western scholars. The difference between these two sources are striking: popular traditions associate trees mainly with klu, whereas the ritual texts with gnyan. To explain the possible cause of this discrepancy, contemporary theories about the ecological history of the Tibetan Plateau are employed."
Sasanka Sekhar Panda, Nagas in the Sculptural Decorations of Early West Orissan Temples, OHRJ, Vol. XLVII, No. 1. [Online]
Phan Anh Tu, The Signification of Naga in Thai Architectural and Sculptural Ornaments
A. Rawlinson, Nâgas and the Magical Cosmology of Buddhism, Religion 16 (1986), p. 141.
Juhyung Rhi, The Garuḍa and the Nāgī/Nāga in the Headdresses of Gandhāran Bodhisattvas: Locating Textual Parallels. Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 23 (2009), pp. 147-158.
Julia Shaw, Nāga Sculptures in Sanchi's Archaeological Landscape: Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism, and Local Agricultural Cults in Central India, First Century BCE to Fifth Century CE, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 64, No. 1 (2004), pp. 5-59. [ONLINE @ ACADEMIA]
Agarwal Shivani, The archaeology of Mathura regional complexities and diversities (300 B.C.- A.D.300), 2014. Thesis, Chapter 5, The Yakshas, Nagas and Other Regional Cults of Mathura, Jawahalal Nehru University. [ONLINE HERE]
Giuseppe Tucchi, The Religions of Tibet, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980
Gautama V. Vajracharya, The Creatures of the Rain Rivers, Cloud Lakes. Newars Saw Them, So Did Ancient India, asianart.com|articles, January 07, 2009
J. Ph. Vogel, Indian Serpent-Lore, or the Nagas in Hindu Legend and Art, Delhi, 1972.
J. Ph. Vogel, "Naga Worship in Ancient Mathura," Archaeological Survey of India: Annual Report, 1908-09, pp. 159-63.
Alex Wayman, Researches on Poison, Garuda-birds and Naga-serpents based on the Sgrub thabs kun btus
Robert Wessing, Symbolic Animals in the Land between the Waters: Markers of Place and Transition, Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 65, No. 2 (2006), pp. 205-239
"This paper analyses the use of symbolic animals in Indonesia and Southeast Asia generally as markers of place or state of being, and aids in transition between states of being. It shows that especially naga and Garuda, both subsets of a larger category of naga, respectively define the categories upperworld and underworld as the male and female extremes of a water continuum. These are linked by the rainbow, which is also a member of the naga category. Together these symbolic animals make up the axis mundi, as can be seen in both the symbolic mountain of the Javanese shadow theatre and the Balinese cremation tower. Within the arc of water created by these three elements lies the earth, which has emerged from, and can be seen to be part of the under-world. The emergence of the earth as well as states and crops from the underworld is made possible by the movement of buffalo or its equivalents, which also aid in the transition of human beings from the prenatal state, through life and into death."
