NAGHAGADISHTA, NABHAGANEDISHTHA, NABHA – NEDISHTHA  A son of Manu, who while he was living as a Brahmachari, was deprived of his inheritance, by his father according to the Yajur-veda, by his brothers according to the Aitareya Brahmana. He subsequently acquired wealth by imparting spiritual knowledge.

NACHIKETAS The story of Nachiketas is told in the Taittiriya Brahmana and Katha Upanishad. Vaja-sravasa or Aruni, the father of Nachiketas, desirous of attaining heaven, performed great sacrifices, and was profuse in his gifts to the priests. The son told him that he had not given all, for that he, his son, was left, and said, “To whom shall I be given?” On repeating the question, the father angrily replied, “To death.” So the son departed to the abodes of death, and, after staying there three nights, Yama was constrained to offer him a boon. He prayed to see his father again and be reconciled. This boon was granted and another offered. All kinds of blessings were proposed, but the youth refused to be contented with anything but a true knowledge of the soul. Yama then proceeded to instruct him. The story has been done into verse by Muir (Texts, vol. v. p. 329).

NAGA A snake, especially the cobra-capella. A mythical semi-divine being, having a human face with the tail of a serpent, and the expanded neck of the cobra. The race of Nagas is said to be a thousand in number, and to have sprung from Kadru, the wife of Kasyapa, for the purpose of peopling patala, or the regions below the earth, where they reign in great splendour. From the name of their mother they are called Kadraveyas. Their mother is sometimes called Su-rasa. This dominion was taken from them by the Gandharvas, but they recovered it through their sister, the Narmada river, who induced Vishnu to send Pratardana to their assistance. Their females were handsome, and some of them intermarried with men, as Ulupi with Arjuna.

        The Nagas, or a people bearing the same name, are historical, and have left many traces behind them. There were mountains so called, and Naga-dwipa was one of the seven divisions of Bharata-varsha. Kings of this race reigned at Mathura, Padmavati, &c., and the name survive in the modern Nagpur. There are various speculations as to who and what they were, but it seems clear they were a race distinct from the Hindus. The mythological accounts are probably based upon the historical, but they have been mixed up together and confused. The favourite theory is that they were a Scythic race, and probably obtained their name from worshipping serpents or holding them in awe and reverence.

NAGA-LOKA Patala, the residence of the Nagas.

NAGA-NANDANA A Buddhist drama in five acts by Sri Harsha Deva. It has been translated by Boyd. The text has been printed.

NAGARA A city. There are seven sacred cities which confer eternal happiness – (1.) Ayodhya, (2.) Mathura, (3.) Maya (Gaya), (4.) Kasi (Benares), (5.) Kanchi (Conjeveram), (6.) Avanti or Avantika (Ujjayini), (7.) Dwaraka or Dwaravati.

NAHUSHA Son of Ayus the eldest son of Pururavas, and father of Yayati. This king is mentioned by Manu as having come into conflict with the Brahmans, and his story is repeated several times with variations in different parts of the Maha-bharata as well as in the Purnas, the aim and object of it evidently being to exhibit the retribution awaiting any man who derogates from the power of Brahmans and the respect due to them. “By sacrifices, austere fervour, sacred study, self-restraint, and valour, Nahusha acquired the undisturbed sovereignty of the three worlds … Through want of virtuous humility the great king Nahusha was utterly ruined.” – Manu. One version of the story says that he aspired to the possession of Indrani, wife of Indra, when that god had concealed himself for having killed a Brahman. A thousand great Rishis bore the car of Nahusha through the air, and on one occasion he touched with his foot the great Agastya, who was carrying him. The sage in his anger cried out, “Fall, thou serpent,” and Nahusha fell from his glorious car and became a serpent. Agastya, at the supplication of Nahusha, put a limit to the curse; and according to one version, the doomed man was released from it by the instrumentality of Yudhi-shthira, when he threw off “his huge reptile form, became clothed in a celestial body, an ascended to heaven.”

NAIKASHEYAS Carnivorous imps descended from Nikasha, mother of Ravana. They are called also Nikashatmajas.

NAIMISHA, NAIMISHARANYA A forest (aranya) near the Gomati (Gumti) river, in which the Maha-bharata was rehearsed by Sauti to the assembled Rishis.

NAIRRITA Belonging to the south-west quarter; the regent of that quarter. An imp, goblin, or Rakshasa.

NAISHADHA-CHARITA, NAISHADHIYA A poem on the life of Nala, king of Nishadha, by Sri Harsha, a great skeptical philosopher who lived in the eleventh or twelfth century A.D. It is one of the six Maha-kavyas. There are several printed editions.

NAKSHATRAS Mansions of the moon, lunar asterisms. At first they were twenty-seven in number, but they were increased to twenty-eight. They are said to be daughters of Daksha who were married to the moon. See Daksha.

NAKULA The fourth of the Pandu princes. He was the twin son of Madri, the second wife of Pandu, but mythologically he was son of the Aswins, or more specifically of the Aswin Nasatya. He was taught the art of training and managing horses by Drona, and when he entered the service of the king of Virata he was master of the horse. He had a son named Niramitra by his wife Karenu-mati, a princess of Chedi. See Maha-bharata.

NALA 1. King of Nishadha and husband of Damayanti. The story of Nala and Damayanti is one of the episodes of the Maha-bharata, and is well known from having been translated into Latin by Bopp and into English verse by Dean Milman. Damayanti was the only daughter of Bhima, king of Vidarbha (Birar), and was very lovely and accomplished. Nala was brave and handsome, virtuous, and learned in the Vedas, skilled in arms and in the management of horses, but addicted to the vice of gambling. They loved each other upon the mere fame of their respective virtues and beauty, and Damayanti pined for the presence of her unknown lover. Bhima determined that his daughter should hold a Swayam-vara. Rajas flocked to it in crowds, and among them Nala. Four gods, Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama, also attended. Nala met them on the way, and reverently promised to do their will. They bade him enter the palace and inform Damayanti that they would present themselves among the candidates, and that she must choose one of them. Nala reluctantly performed his task, but his presence perfected his conquest, and the maiden announced her resolve to pay due homage to the gods, but to choose him for her lord. Each of the four gods assumed the form of Nala, but the lover’s eye distinguished the real one, and she made her choice. They married and lived for some time in great happiness, a son and a daughter, named Indrasena and Indrasena, being born to them. Kali, a personification of the Kali or iron age, arrived too late for the Swayam-vara. He resolved to be revenged, and he employed his peculiar powers to ruin Nala through his love of gambling. At his instigation, Pushkara, Nala’s younger brother, proposed a game of dice. Kali charmed the dice, and Nala went on losing; but he was infatuated; the entreaties of friends and ministers, wife and children, were of no avail; he went on till he had lost his all, even to his clothes. His rival Pushkara became king, and proclaimed that no one was to give food or shelter to Nala, so the ruined monarch wandered forth into the forest with his wife, and suffered great privations. Some birds flew away with his only garment. He resolved to abandon his wife in the hope that she would return to her father’s court, so he divided her sole remaining garment while she slept and left her. Thus left alone, Damayanti wandered about in great distress. She did not go home, but she at length found service and protection with the princess of Chedi. Nala fell in with the king of serpents, who was under a curse from which Nala was to deliver him. The serpent bit Nala and told him that the poison should work upon him till the evil spirit was gone out of him, and that he should then be restored to all he loved. Through the effects of the bite he was transformed into a misshapen dwarf. In this form he entered the service of Rituparna, king of Ayodhya, as a trainer of horses and an accomplished cook, under the name of Bahuka. Damayanti was discovered and conducted to her father’s home, where she found her children. Great search was made for Nala, but in vain, for no one knew him in his altered form. One Brahman, however, suspected him, and informed Damayanti. She resolved to test his feelings by announcing her intention of holding a second Swayam-vara. King Rituparna determined to attend, and took Nala with him as driver of his chariot. Rituparna was skilled in numbers and the rules of chances. On their journey he gave a wonderful proof of this, and he instructed Nala in the science. When Nala had acquired their knowledge the evil spirit went out of him, but still he retained his deformity. Damayanti half penetrated his disguise, and was at length convinced that he was her husband by the flavor of a dish which he had cooked. They met, and after some loving reproaches and the interference of the gods, they became reconciled, and Nala resumed his form. He again played with Pushkara, and staked his wife against the kingdom. Profiting by the knowledge he had obtained from Rituparna, he won back all and again became king. Pushkara then humbled himself, and Nala not only forgave him, but also sent him home to his own city enriched with many gifts. The text of this poem has been often printed, and there are translations in various languages.

2. A monkey chief, said to be a son of Viswa-karma. According to the Ramayana, he had the power of making stones float in water. He was in Rama’s army and built the bridge of stone called Rama-setu, or Nala-setu, from the continent to Ceylon, over which Rama passed with his army.

NALA-KUVARA A son of Kuvera.

NALODAYA (Nala + udaya). ‘The rise of Nala.’ A poem describing the restoration to power of king Nala after he had lost his all. It is ascribed to a Kali-dasa, but the composition is very artificial, and the ascription to the great Kali-dasa may well be doubted. The text has been printed, and there is a metrical translation by Yates.

NALOPAKHYANA The story of Nala, an episode o the Maha-bharata. See Nala.

NAMUCHI A demon slain by Indra with the foam of water. The legend of Namuchi first appears in the Rig-veda, where it is said that Indra ground “the head of the slave Namuchi like a sounding and rolling cloud,” but it is amplified by the commentator and also in the Satapatha Brahmana and Maha-bharata. When Indra conquered the Asuras there was one Namuchi who resisted so strongly that he overpowered Indra and held him. Namuchi offered to let Indra go on promise not to kill him by day or by night, with wet or with dry. Indra gave the promise and was released, but he cut off Namuchi’s head at twilight, between day and night, and with foam of water, which was, according to the authorities, neither wet nor dry. The Maha-bharata adds that the dissevered head followed Indra calling out “O wicked slayer of thy friend.”

NANDA 1. The cowherd by whom Krishna was brought up. 2. A king, or dynasty of kings, of Magadha, that reigned at Patali-putra, and was overthrown by Chandra-gupta the Maurya about 315 B.C. See Chandra-gupta.

NANDANA The grove of Indra, lying to the north of Meru.

NANDI The bull of Siva. The Vayu Purana makes him the son of Kasyapa and Surabhi. His image, of a milky white colour, is always conspicuous before the temples of Siva. He is the chamberlain of Siva, chief of his personal attendants (ganas), and carries a staff of office. He is guardian of all quadrupeds. He is also called Salankayana, and he has the appellations of Nadi-deha and Tandava-talika, because he accompanies with music the tandava dance of his master.

NANDI-MUKHAS A class of Pitris or Manes, concerning whose character there is a good deal of uncertainty.

NANDINI The cow of plenty belonging to the sage Vasishtha, said to have been born of Surabhi, the cow of plenty that was produced at the churning of the ocean. 

NANDI-PURANA See Purana.

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