Naga Of Buddha Image In Early India And Its Sinicization

Naga is an Indian animal God based on the cobra with swollen neck.It is translated as"??"or"??"in Chinese.It has the image attribute of"multi snake crown",mainly in two forms:single tail multi head snake crown type(animal type)and snake crown character combination type(personification type).It originated from the worship of snakes by the Dravidian and the history of adoration in sanke by the indigenous clans.It is the symbol of"Water God"in the ancient aborigines.However,with the invasion of Aryans,Naga's"Water God"status was replaced and suppressed by Indra,the main god of Aryans,in the Vedic culture,and Naga became the"God of drought"with the opposite role.After Buddhism came into being,Naga was combined with tree god in the period without Buddha image.It was integrated into the Buddhist culture as a native goblin.Buddhism gained the trust of the people through Naga,and gradually developed into an independent Naga statue in the period of Buddha image,and finally transformed into the protector of Buddha.With the introduction of Buddhism into China,Naga's image and meaning merge with the Chinese dragon.In particular,its image appeared sinicization phenomenon in Kucha Grottoes murals and North Dynasty Buddhist Steles.Chinese Buddhism selectively retained the Indian modeling elements of Naga and inserted the modeling elements of Chinese dragon.Among them,the author focuses on the reconstruction of Naga as the image of "bather" in the "Prince Abhiseca " of the Buddha story in the Chinese dragon culture system,and through image arrangement and Buddhist Scripture research,it is believed that the Chinese "Prince Abhiseca " image mainly inherits the "double Naga " shape of Mathura,rather than the "no snake crown figure holding a vase " shape of Gandhara.At the same time,in the process of sinicization,the personalized Naga appeared the trend of "the transition from the snake crown to the Dragon crown" and "the snake crown is separated from the characters" in the North Dynasty statues and Kucha Grottoes,and finally evolved into the nine Chinese dragon heads from the "void" bathing form,established the program expression of "Nine Dragon " during the Sui and Tang Dynasties,and combined with the theme of imperial power or authority,which was obviously secularized and spread to the present.It has become a popular theme of Buddhist statues in China.As an animal God,Naga "shuttles" across time and space in different religions and cultures,continues to be absorbed and transformed,constantly changing image and meaning.Indian indigenous people are good at using romantic imagination to give Naga multiple auspicious symbols;Vedic culture is good at using the "violence" in myth to let Indra suppress Naga;Buddhism is good at using "compassion" to let Buddha influence Naga and make it become Buddha's protector;Chinese Buddhism is good at using "fusion" to let Chinese dragon transform or replace Naga and make it a God with Chinese characteristics.All these reflect the unique means of assimilation of different religions and cultures,and ultimately achieve the goal of the sovereign status of the sworn religion or culture.It not only embodies the enlightenment significance behind religion and the national characteristics behind culture,but also embodies the " domination " of transforming foreign things and integrating them for their own use no matter what religion and cultural essence.It is the " domination " of the coexistence of inclusive and exclusive that makes human culture shine.The law of Naga's evolution in India and China is a typical example of the existence of this " domination ".