Jason Johns 1 and Jyotsna Rani Nag 2 1 Assistant Professor (ad hoc) & PhD Scholar, Dept. of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai. E-mail: jason.johns@xaviers.edu 2 T.Y.B.Sc (Zoology-Botany), St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai, IOCL BGR T/S, Dhaligaon, Chirang, Assam, 783385. E-mail: jyotsnanag2427@gmail.com Abstract : The Indian sub-continent has a vibrant history of human-snake interaction spanning from the prehistoric period up to modern times. Snakes are an integral part of the ecosystem, agriculture cycle, mythology, folklore, art, iconography, etc., and we see them in depiction, worshipped in rituals, and even venerated in live form across religions; this interaction also includes abuse of snakes, destruction of their habitat, etc., but falls beyond the scope of this paper. When we hear the word ‘snake’ the localised term of ‘Naga’ comes into our mind; the famous ones being Sheshnaga, Muchalinda Naga, etc. This paper will be focusing on Muchalinda Naga, a snake king that appears in Buddhist texts, whose appearance is dated to the 6 th Cen. B.C. coinciding with the enlightenment of the Buddha. When a researcher is observing the original Pali Sources, it is noted that there is a clear dichotomy in what is spoken in the text regarding the interaction of Muchalinda and the Buddha and what is depicted specifcally in the frst few centuries onwards. In order to study iconographic evolution, the researchers will be examining the depictions of ‘Muchalinda Buddha’ from the earliest times and will expatiate on the various developing iconographic features as noted in these depictions over the ages. The paper will try to answer the following questions with an interdisciplinary approach vis-à-vis the type of snake Muchalinda Naga was, the change in his depiction over the centuries, faithfulness of the visual depiction to the textual depiction, the reason behind the evolution of the depiction and lastly Muchalinda’s interaction with the Buddha from a herpetological perspective. For the herpetological perspective, the researcher will be using the scholarly works by Whitaker, R., & Captain, A. (2015), Smith, M., (1981), Gunther, A. (1864) and others in order to illustrate their hypothesis. Keywords: Buddha, Constriction, Coils, Hood, India, King Cobra, Muchalinda, Naga, Snake Muchalinda Buddha:- An Interdisciplinary approach to Reinterpret the Depiction of the Buddha with Muchalinda Naga Journal of Archaeological Studies in India Vol. 1, No. 1, 2021, pp. 140-157 © ARF India. All Right Reserved URL: http://arfournals.com/jasi Received : 21 April 2021 Revised : 26 April 2021 Accepted : 4 May 2021 Published : 4 August 2021 TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Johns, J., & Nag, J.R. 2021. Muchalinda Buddha: An Interdisciplinary approach to reinterpret the Depiction of the Buddha with Muchalinda Naga. Journal of Archaeological Studies in India, 1: 1, pp. 140-157