Picture an underground realm with gem-encrusted walls and gold floors, ruled not by pitchfork demons but by cultured, shape-shifting serpents. That is Patala, home of the Nagas, and it is tied directly to the water table. This episode connects a termite mound in South India, the origin myth of the Cambodian Empire, and an eight-year-old Naga princess in the Lotus Sutra who achieves instant enlightenment. We start with the word itself, traced to a root meaning naked or hairless, and the polysemy that lets naga mean snake, cloud, mountain, or elephant, all expressions of vast, heavy, fluid natural power.

From there we explore Vasuki as the churning rope in the Samudra Manthan, Shesha as Vishnu's cosmic bed, Mucalinda sheltering the meditating Buddha with seven hoods, and the Tibetan klu who punish water pollution. We then follow the Naga into ...