Indian Regional nāga Cults and Individual nāga Stories in Chinese Buddhist Travelogues

This paper attempts to link the archaeological and epigraphic evidence of nāga veneration in South Asia (Mathurā, Ajaṇṭā) with the textual sources about nāgas and their veneration from the Chinese Buddhist travelogues (Faxian, Xuanzang). As a specific case study, the information about the nāga Dadhikarṇa attested in Mathurā is compared with Faxian’s description of the cult of the nāga ‘White-Ear’ in Sāṅkāśya and other texts referring to rituals or festivals dedicated to nāgas.