Mucilinda

Mucalinda first appears in the Mucalinda Sutta, where it is described that the naga king protected Buddha from the elements by encircling Buddha's body seven times with his coils and standing with his hood spread over. After Buddha finished meditating and the sky cleared, Mucalinda adopted the form of a youth and bowed before him. The first existent artwork depicting Mucalinda comes from a 2nd-century BC stupa in Pauni, Maharashtra, where the naga is portrayed as having five heads and guarding Buddha's empty seat. Contemporaneous artwork from Sanchi has him portrayed in zoo-anthropomorphic form and attended by a retinue of nagini. ==Mahayana==

According to the Lalitavistara Sutra, the Buddha found himself in the domain of Mucilinda five weeks after his enlightenment. Mucilinda, along with nāgas from the four cardinal directions, approached him and coiled around his body seven times to shelter him from the inclement weather. They did so for seven days and seven nights. After the storm had let up, the nāgas returns to their respective domains and Mucilinda paid homage to the Buddha, circumambulating him three times before departing. ==Artistic representations==

The subject of the Buddha meditating under the protection of Mucalinda is very common in Lao Buddhist art. A particularly striking gigantic modern rendition is present in Bunleua Sulilat's sculpture park Sala Keoku. Art depicting the Buddha with Mucalinda's hood over him might have been influenced by Jain art of Parshvanatha, himself depicted as a man with a cobra-like hood. ==See also==