The Eight Legions 天龍八部

  nāga

那伽（梵語：नाग，羅馬化：nāga），或譯為龍，是印度神話中的蛇神。這種生物的外表類似巨大的蛇，有一個頭或七個頭；其形像在婆羅門教、印度教和佛教經典中常有出現。

另外，雌性的那伽被叫做「那姬」（nāgī）或「那姬尼」（nāgiṇī）。那伽在漢傳佛教中等同於蛇。

The Eight Legions (Sanskrit: अष्टसेना, Aṣṭasenā; 八部衆) are a group of Buddhist deities whose function is to protect the Dharma.

These beings are common among the audience addressed by the Buddha in Mahāyāna sūtras, making appearances in such scriptures as the Lotus Sutra and the Golden Light Sutra.

They are also referred to as the "Eight Legions of Devas and Nāgas" (天龍八部).

Naga 

In various Asian religious traditions, the Nagas (Sanskrit: नाग, romanized: Nāga) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld(幽冥界)(Patala),

 and can occasionally take human

 or part-human form, or are so

 depicted in art.

A female naga is called a Nagi, or a Nagini.

According to legend, they are the children of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru.

 Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout South Asia for at least 2,000 years.

 They are principally depicted in three forms: as entirely human with snakes on the heads and necks, as common serpents, or as half-human, half-snake beings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Nagaraja is the title given to the king of the nagas.

 Narratives of these beings hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures, and within Hinduism and Buddhism.

Communities such as the Nagavanshi, Khmer(高棉) and Eelamese claim descent from this race.

Etymology

 

Wikispecies has information related to Naja naja.

In Sanskrit, a nāgá (नाग) is a snake, most often depicted by a cobra, the Indian cobra (Naga Raja). A synonym for nāgá is phaṇin (फणिन्).

There are several words for "snake" in general, and one of the very commonly used ones is sarpá (सर्प).

 Sometimes the word nāgá is also used generically to mean "snake".