Studies in Indian Art c12.s2.t3.3

c12.s2.t3.3

The *Mahābhārata* (Sabhāparva) gives a list of Yakshas present in the assembly of Kubera, but much more important and full is the list of Yakshas in the Buddhist work called *Mahāmāyurī*. Literary tradition shows that each region had its local Yaksha for whose worship appropriate images were installed. These stone images and the tradition of worship cannot have disappeared altogether and it is very likely that patient search into local history and archaeology will reveal traces of Yaksha worship and statuary in many other places. Fortunately, the gap for Banaras is filled by this image. I have not been able to find up to now a proper identification of this figure in the lists of Yakshas mentioned above, and the subject requires still further investigation.