The dragon (nāga) is counted as one of the eight groups who are protectors of Buddhism. Nāgas, types of demons in snake form, were believed to dwell in the sea, call the clouds forth, and bring rain. Their head was called the Nāga King or the Nāga God. They feature widely in Buddhist sutras from the earliest times and are a good measure of the spread of the Buddhist faith. The Nāga cult is thought to have evolved from an indigenous Indian belief, and it spread widely throughout the country in ancient and medieval times. We have seen already how Buddhism absorbed the Nāga cult as it spread into Gandhāra and Kashmir. This is reflected in the Kashmir historical records, the Rājatarahgiṇi (I, 26—28, 178) and the Nirapurāṇa (984-89). The contact between the Nāga cult and Buddhism in northwestern India resulted in the conversion of many Nāga followers of the region to Buddhism, and placing the indigenous belief within the doctrinal structure of Buddhism provided a strong base for their new Buddhist belief.