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What emerged from the study of manuscripts belonging to Naxi \u2013 Dongba pictographic tradition as iconographies,\u00a0 statistics and semantics suggested and evinced to the author many and close relationship with Tibetan and Indian\u00a0 traditions.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The Naxi Ss\u00f9<\/em> and Lu-mun<\/em> <\/span>as the serpent-like deities are closely related to the Tibetan <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n \n Both the Ss\u00f9<\/em>\/Lu<\/em>-mun and the <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu <\/span><\/em>are demi-gods, having the human head and the body of a serpent, which is generally supposed to live in fountains, rivers and lakes. The <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>are also believed to be the guardian of great treasures under-ground; they are able to cause rain and certain maladies, and become dangerous when angry.<\/span>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n This feature perfectly coincides with the iconology of the Naxi \u2013 Dongba Ss\u00f9<\/em> emerged from the study of manuscripts and tradition; moreover is possible to relate the Tibetan <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74<\/span>, thus the Naxi \u2013 Dongba Ss\u00f9<\/em> as correspondent to the<\/span> Indian <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga,[2]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> and a closer look both to Tibetan <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu<\/span><\/em> <\/span>and Indian <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga could be helpful for integration and a clearer understanding of Ss\u00f9<\/em>\/Lu-mun<\/em> features and for cross references.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The Ss\u00f9<\/em>\/Lu-mun<\/em> and the <\/span><\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu <\/span><\/em>both play a significant role into the relative cosmology, as it also correspond for the\u00a0 Indian being <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga: they all are closely related and indicate the forces and powers of the earth and of the water, of which the prosperity (of agriculture, of nature spontaneous fruits, of abundance of springs, of good-weather, etc…) is believed to depend.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n According to Kern in his history of Indian Buddhism[3]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> the <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga occupy the eight rank in the system of the world, after the Buddhas and the Garudas and before goblins and demons, giants and ghosts. They are water-spirits, represented as a rule in human shapes, with a crown of serpents on their head. Kern also reports that they are \u201csnake-like being resembling clouds<\/em>\u201d.[4]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n According to Hardy[5]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> the <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga reside in the loka (world) under the trikuta rocks that support Meru, and in the waters of the world of man.They have the shape of spectacle-snake, with the extended hood (columber <\/span><\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga). They are demi-gods and have many enjoyments; they are usually represented as being favorable to Buddha and his adherents, but when they wrath is roused, their opposition is of a formidable character.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Such descriptions of Indian <\/span><\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga <\/span><\/em>find easily place beside the features of the Tibetan <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74<\/span> <\/span>Klu<\/span><\/em> and what recorded and represented into Naxi \u2013 Dongba pictographic manuscript tradition about the Ss\u00f9<\/em>\/Lu-mun<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n \n An entire cycle of myths has grown up around the <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu <\/span><\/em>and the <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga<\/span><\/em>, <\/em>forming the theme for an entire cycle of literature, which seems to be in part represented into the Naxi manuscripts dedicated or related to the Ss\u00f9<\/em> cult, which thus appears not more as an isolated and not contextualized phenomenon, but could be seen as a segment – with all its\u00a0 peculiarity \u2013 of the wider line of the stream of the serpent-like deities cult diffused in far East.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n As the Naxi \u2013 Dongba<\/em> count thousands of Ss\u00f9<\/em> and Lu-mun<\/em> ruled by Ss\u00f9 gyi-bbu<\/em> – kings of Ss\u00f9<\/em><\/strong> and Ss\u00f9-swue-p’a<\/em> \u2013 lords of Ss\u00f9<\/em><\/strong>, as the Tibetan tradition numbers <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74\u0f0b\u0f67\u0fa6\u0f74\u0f58 <\/span>Klu<\/span><\/em>–hbum<\/em> – hundred thousand of <\/strong><\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span><\/strong>Klu<\/span><\/em><\/strong> <\/span><\/em>ruled by <\/em><\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 \u0f62\u0f92\u0fb1\u0f63\u0f0b\u0f54\u0f7c <\/span>Klu rGyal-po<\/span><\/em> –<\/span> <\/span>Kings of <\/span><\/strong>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/em><\/span><\/strong>Klu<\/span><\/em><\/strong>, and so the M\u0101h\u0101yana <\/em>school knows a long list of <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga <\/span><\/em>ruled by eight great <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917\u0930\u093e\u091c <\/span>N\u0101gar\u0101ja<\/span><\/em> \u2013 N\u0101ga<\/em> kings<\/strong>:[6] <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n According to Indian beliefs, the <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>N\u0101ga <\/span><\/em>are divided in four castes, just like man, and form whole states: \u201c […] they are the lords of the earth more than anyone else, and send, when having been insulted, drought, bad crops, diseases and pestilences among mankind<\/em>\u201d, exactly as Tibetan <\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74<\/span> <\/span>Klu<\/span><\/em> and Naxi \u2013 Dongba Ss\u00f9<\/em>\/Lu-mun<\/em>.[7]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n Naxi \u2013 Dongba conception of the Ss\u00f9\/Lu-mun<\/em>, as propitious \u2013 adverse entity is regulated by a path which decided about the world and the nature to be shared among humans and Ss\u00f9<\/em>, <\/span>and this seems to be so closely related too with the Tibetan thought of the relationship between things and events on the one hand, and men on the other, which correspond to the main two <\/span>\u0f56\u0fb2\u0f0b\u0f64\u0f72\u0f66<\/span> <\/span>Bra-shis<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>\u0f56\u0f40\u0fb7\u0fb2\u0f0b\u0f58\u0f72\u0f0b\u0f64\u0f72\u0f66<\/span> <\/span>Bkhra<\/span><\/em>–mi<\/em>–shis<\/em> concepts, which could bee translated as the idea of some forces favorable<\/strong> and auspicious<\/strong> and some-other forces hostile and harmful<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In this peculiarly Tibetan point-of-view of the world, whether man is favored by fortune, or is her victim, doesn’t depend on chance It is rather fruit of the Karma. Every fact, every event is the result of the intervention of a force, as a conscious will or of a conscious power, that sometimes takes material and visible forms or manifestation, but other times remains indeterminate and impossible to be grasped.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Most of these powers, the way they act, depend on the way the men conduct themselves towards them, and this general conception of life and relationship among man and the rest of creation is as reflected in the <\/span><\/span>\u0f40\u0fb3\u0f74 <\/span>Klu <\/span><\/em>cult as in the Naxi \u2013 Dongba Ss\u00f9 <\/em>cult.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n As the Indian <\/span>\u0928\u093e\u0917 <\/span>
\nThis eight are often mentioned in Chinese and Japanese legends as \u516b\u9f8d \u738b ba long wang<\/em> \u2013 the eight dragon kings<\/strong>, and were said to have been among Buddha audience, with their retinnes, while he delivered the instruction of the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra<\/em> – Lotus Sutra of the good Law<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n
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