Saṁyutta Nikāya:
III. Khandhā Vagga:
29: Nāga Saṁyutta

Kindred Sayings on Nāgas

Suttas 1-10

Sutta 1

Suddhika Suttaṁ

According to Scheme¹

 

---

 

Thus have I heard:

The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:

"Brethren!"

"Master!" responded those brethren.

The Exalted One said:

"There are these four sorts of birth, brethren,
as nāgas.

What four?

The egg-born,
the womb-born²
the sweat-born,³
those born without parents.

These, brethren, are the four sorts of birth as nāgas.

 

---

¹ Suddhikaṅ. On this term see B Psy Eth., 2nd ed. only, § 505, n. 1. In the next section the text reads suddhakaṅ. Asking why the Master chose such a subject as nāga-births (i.e., among the gnomes and elves) for his discourse, Comy. says it was to explain the desire (ukkcaṇṭhat'atthaṅ) for such births.

² Jalabujā, 'water-born.' Comy. says vatthikose jātā.

³ Sanseda-jā. They are exuded from the pores; the last class, opapātikā, 'just come to be.' Cf. Comy. on D. iii, 107, in Dialogues, iii, 103, n. 2; and Comy. on Puggala-Paññatti, J.P.T.S. 1913, p. 197.