The Mahoraga are great serpent-beings of Buddhist cosmology — immense, chthonic, dragon- or python-like creatures who are counted among the eight classes of supernatural beings that protect the dharma and attend the teaching of the Buddha. Beings of the earth and the underground, they are the deep, slow, ancient powers brought into the great assembly of the dharma’s guardians.
The Great Serpents
The Mahoraga (the name suggesting “great” maha + a serpent or crawling being) are described as enormous serpent-beings — great snakes, pythons, or dragon-like creatures, sometimes depicted with human upper bodies and serpentine lower bodies, or as humans with serpents upon their heads. They are chthonic beings, associated with the earth and the underground, the deep places of the world. Slow, ponderous, and ancient, they belong to the powers of the earth and the subterranean realms.
The Eightfold Guardian Host
The Mahoraga are one of the Eight Legions or eight classes of supernatural beings (the tianlong babu) who, in the Mahayana scriptures, gather to hear the Buddha’s teaching and to protect the dharma: the devas (gods), the nagas (dragons), the yakshas, the gandharvas (celestial musicians), the asuras (titans), the garudas (great birds), the kinnaras (celestial half-bird musicians), and the mahoragas (great serpents). Together these eight classes represent the whole range of supernatural beings — from the highest gods to the chthonic serpents — brought into the assembly and the protection of the Buddhist teaching, a sign of the dharma’s universal scope.
The Earth-Powers in the Assembly
As members of this guardian host, the Mahoraga represent the inclusion of even the deep, ancient, earth-bound powers in the great congregation of the dharma. Often regarded as somewhat dull or torpid by nature (befitting their serpentine, earthbound character), they are nonetheless honoured beings who attend the Buddha and protect the teaching. They appear in the great assembly scenes of the Mahayana sutras, among the countless beings gathered to hear the Buddha preach. In the Mahoraga, Buddhism gave form to the great serpents of the earth brought into the dharma — the chthonic, ancient serpent-beings who, with the gods and dragons and all the supernatural classes, gather to hear and protect the teaching, the deep earth-powers numbered among the guardians of the Buddha’s word.
