_Rajput, Nagvansi_.--This clan are considered to be the descendants of
the Tak or Takshac, which is one of the thirty-six royal races, and was
considered by Colonel Tod to be of Scythian origin. The Takshac were
also snake-worshippers. "Naga and Takshac are synonymous appellations
in Sanskrit for the snake, and the Takshac is the celebrated Nagvansa
of the early heroic history of India. The Mahabharat describes in its
usual allegorical style the war between the Pandus of Indraprestha and
the Takshacs of the north. Parikhita, a prince on the Pandu side, was
assassinated by the Takshac, and his son and successor, Janamejaya,
avenged his death and made a bonfire of 20,000 snakes." [546] This
allegory is supposed to have represented the warfare of the Aryan
races against the Sakas or Scythians. The Tak or Takshac would be
one of the clans held to be derived from the earlier invading tribes
from Central Asia, and of the lunar race. The Tak are scarcely known
in authentic history, but the poet Chand mentions the Tak from Aser
or Asirgarh as one of the princes who assembled at the summons of
Prithwi Raj of Delhi to fight against the Muhammadans. In another
place he is called Chatto the Tak. Nothing more is known of the
Tak clan unless the cultivating Taga caste of northern India is
derived from them. But the Nagvansi clan of Rajputs, who profess to
be descended from them, is fairly numerous. Most of the Nagvansis,
however, are probably in reality descended from landholders of the
indigenous tribes who have adopted the name of this clan, when they
wished to claim rank as Rajputs. The change is rendered more easy by
the fact that many of these tribes have legends of their own, showing
the descent of their ruling families from snakes, the snake and tiger,
owing to their deadly character, being the two animals most commonly
worshipped. Thus the landholding section of the Kols or Mundas of
Chota Nagpur have a long legend [547] of their descent from a princess
who married a snake in human form, and hence call themselves Nagvansi
Rajputs; and Dr. Buchanan states that the Nagvansi clan of Gorakhpur
is similarly derived from the Chero tribe. [548] In the Central
Provinces the Nagvansi Rajputs number about 400 persons, nearly all
of whom are found in the Chhattisgarh Districts and Feudatory States,
and are probably descendants of Kol or Munda landholding families.