Buddhist Arts

Nagas are every­where in Bud­dhist art and architecture.

In order to visit Angkor Thom in Cam­bo­dia, you need to walk across a bridge adorned on either side with the Naga bal­istrade. Here the Naga pro­vides pro­tec­tion from the moat and link­age between heaven and earth. King Jayavar­man VII, who reigned in Cam­bo­dia dur­ing the build­ing of Bayon and Angkor Thom, among other major tem­ples of the period late 12th to early 13th cen­tury. (See angkorwat.marlandc.com for a full set of Angkor Wat pho­tos taken dur­ing my trav­els there in 2001.)

Dur­ing my visit to the Prasart Museum in Bangkok (for more infor­ma­tion on Prasart see ear­lier post), I took this pic­ture of a sand­stone carv­ing which was orig­i­nally the cor­ner piece of a ped­i­ment at a tem­ple in north­east­ern Thai­land. It depicts a Naga emerg­ing from the mouth of a Makara. Accord­ing to a web­site, The Naga and Makara, the Makara is a crea­ture com­bin­ing the croc­o­dile, the ele­phant and the ser­pent. This turns out to be a com­mon theme among Naga carv­ings and sculp­tures through­out SE and Cen­tral Asia.

Cor­ner­stone dec­o­rated with Naga, sand­stone, Khmer, 11th century.

Another recur­ring story is that of Mucalinda, the ser­pent who pro­tected Gau­tama or Sakya­muni Bud­dha while he was med­i­tat­ing in Bodh Gaya. It rained for a week, caus­ing the waters to rise, but Mucalinda wrapped its coils beneath the Bud­dha to cre­ate a seat and cov­ered his body with its seven heads to keep him dry.

Bud­dha med­i­tat­ing under Naga, Dambulla Cave Tem­ples, Sri Lanka.

In Laos, the naga has a spe­cial place in Mekong River lore and daily life. At the end of Bud­dhist Lent, locals claim to wit­ness a naga fire­ball ris­ing from the river. As well, peo­ple sac­ri­fice to the naga for pro­tec­tion from dan­ger while trav­el­ing on the river.

Naga guard­ing tem­ple entrance, Luang Pra­bang, Laos.

Naga stair­way at Doi Suthep at Chi­ang Mai