Naga

Naga, inspired by Indian Nāga, are creatures combining snake and human features. They are seen in fantasy genre and typically described and depicted as half-woman (usually beautiful), half-serpent in both literature and art.

Fantasy nagas are often tauric, with a snake tail instead of legs, and even the word "naga" is sometimes used synonymous to snake taur with human upped body, no Buddhism connection. But other types of naga character occur, usually more mystical in nature.

Naga can be anything from full snake, to weresnake, to anthrosnake and rarely to full human with non-psychical snake features.

Mythology
Mythological nagas are correctly spelled in English "Nāga", or in other languages: Sanskrit: नाग (nāgá), Burmese: နဂါး (nəɡá), Javanese: någå, Khmer: នាគ (neak), Thai: th|นาค (nak'), Chinese: 那伽, Tibetan: ཀླུ་. The word is of Sanskrit and Pāli origin. The female version of Nāga is a nāgī or nāginī

Nāga is a deity or class of mythological entity or being, taking the form of a very great snake, specifically the King Cobra, found in Hinduism and Buddhism.

In mainstream culture
In Dungeons & Dragons, nagas are mystical serpentine creatures with heads of women. Many types of nagas exist, from benevolent and beautiful guardian nagas to evil snake-like dark nagas. In D&D 3rd edition, nagas are playable race, and "Serpent Kingdoms" campaign supplement describes their culture in detail.

In old World of Darkness, Nagah is the name of wereserpents. Like most other Fera, they have five forms, including that of anthropomorphic snake. Nagah are thought extinct by other changers, and even in the Age of Kings nobody knew snakefolk's true mission - the assassins of Gaia. They are meant to judge other shapechangers and execute those who deserve it. A chronicle about Nagah is very different from that of werewolves. Nagah do not mix with other breeds and have to keep own existence secret. They are very patient and always plan ahead. Their missions are more of ninja run than Garou's carnage.

The nagas of World of Warcraft are a marine tauric race descended from elves. During the War of Ancients, queen Azshara made a pact with the Old Gods to save her people. When the capital city drowned, all inhabitants were turned into immortal tauric humanoids with features of sea snakes and fish. Their mind were also twisted, with men losing most of their intellect. Nagas feature in many quests and are playable in tabletop Warcraft RPG.

In Might & Magic videogames, nagas are a tauric race of four-armed women warriors with Indian motif.

A comic book "Snake Woman" by Virgin comics tells a story of a girl who is reincarnation of naga. Heroine struggles between her human brain and snake instincts.

Naga and furry
In the furry fandom, nagas tend to figure as less of a popular character for fursonas in comparison to other mythological creatures, such as dragons, minotaurs, centaurs, satyrs and kitsune. Yet nagas are prominent in furry (or, rather, scalie) art as well as in tauric and transformation communities. As of October 2011, there are 2927 works tagged "naga" at FurAffinity displaying every possible naga anatomy

A naga girl (with busty human torso and snake tail) is on the cover of Anaconda Davida #1. The description of the short anthology states "Naga girls, furry femmes, girls with snakes, snake girls and many more combinations, all with a heaping helping of naughty comedy!" Unfortunately, it ran only for two issues.