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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s2: Meaning and Cult of Yaksha

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s2

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Meaning and Cult of Yaksha

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The Yaksha problem in Indian religion, literature and art is of dimensions worthy of special attention. Perhaps no other cult is as ancient, as widespread and as deeply ingrained in the lives of the people as the Yaksha cult. Even today each Indian village has a Yaksha shrine under the name of Bīr (गाँव-गाँव को ठाकुर, गाँव-गाँव को बीर), and on enquiry it was found that Yaksha worship under different names is a living cult from Kashmir to the Tamil Land (Viran, Māran, i. e. tutelary deity) and from Assam to Saurāshtra. A Yaksha shrine is in the nature of a low platform on which a conical aniconic image is placed usualy with a niche for lamp. There are four points of distinction between a Śiva Linga and a Yaksha image. Firstly, that there should be a Yaksha shrine in each village; secondly, a Yaksha image is single on its platform called chatvara (Hindi, Chaurā) or sthāna (Hindi, thān) but a Śiva shrine may have other images also. Thirdly, there can be no niche or depression for putting a lamp in a Śiva Linga; and fourthly, the Yaksha image is peaked at the top, while the Śiva Linga is rounded. There is evidence in the Purāṇas to indicate that originally Yaksha cult widely prevailed, but it was supplanted by the Śiva cult.

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According to the Matsya Purāṇa the city was under the chieftainship of Harikeśava Yaksha (still worshipped as Harsū Brahma) who became a worshipper of Śiva and after his conversion, Śiva became the presiding deity of the city and Yakshas were relegated to a subordinate position. Even today there are four Yaksha platforms or shrines in Banaras Hindu University area and in Varāṇasī a number of them, including Lahurā Bīr (the junior Yaksha) and Bullā Bīr (the senior Yaksha; Bullā being a Prakrit form of Sanskrit Vipula) very similar to Chulakokā and Mahākokā Devatās of Bharhut. In medieval India we come across numerous references to a group of fifty-two Bīrs of which several lists are preserved (see my book: "Ancient Indian Folk Cults"). In Gupta art and literature Yaksha worship finds a prominent place being represented in Ajanta and mentioned in the Chaturbhāṇī as Rathyā Yaksha (Yaksha of the street). Kālidāsa has immortalised the Yakshas conceived in a rich semi-mythical background with Rāja-rāja Kubera as their king and Alakā as their city, pointed also to the amity between Śiva and Kubera, the former having an abode in the precincts of the capital. In Kushāṇa art we have hundreds of images at Mathura representing Yakshas and Kubera with his consort, Bhadrā or Hārītī, the auspicious goddess of children, whose worship spread from Gandhāra to Magadha, and who was converted by the Buddha from her nature as a cruel ogress to a benevolent mother.

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In the Śuṅga art the Yaksha deity reigns supreme since at that time the forms of Brāhmanical gods and goddesses and also the Buddha or Tīrthaṅkara images have not been crystallised. It appears as if the monumental Stūpas of Bharhut and Sanchi are dedications of a community devoted to the Yaksha deities both in male and female forms carved on the gateways and the railings. We are fortunate to have labels on some of them, e.g. Kupiro Yakho, Yakhī Sudasanā, Suchilomo Yakho, Supavaso Yakho, and the two devatās, Mahā Kokā and Chula Kokā mentioned above. The higher religion of the Buddha and the popular cult of Yakshas were shaking hands in a strange fraternising spirit and the people offered their homage equally to both of them. This seems to be the meaning of Aśoka's statement that by his forging contact with the people in the countryside and questioning them on matters of religion (jānapadasa janasa dasanam dhama-palipuchhā), the unmingled (lower) gods became mingled with the upper ones (amisā devā husu te dānī misā kaṭa). It was likely at this time that a mass of Yaksha material infiltrated into the Epics. The Rāmāyaṇa mentions Yaksha-hood and immortal life (Yakshatvam amaratvam cha) as synonyms (Kishkindhā, 11.94). In the Mahābhārata Brahmā conferred on Vaiśravaṇa three boons, viz. immortality, lordship of wealth and of sovereignty of the worlds (amaratvam dāne sattvam lokapālatva-meva cha, Āraṇyaka Parva, 258. 15).

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Rājā, literally, the resplendent one, was the title of Yaksha; their king Kubera being called Rāja-rāja or Mahārāja, viz. the big Yaksha. The Buddhist texts often refer to the four Mahārājika Gods (chattāro mahārājāno) of whom Vaiśravaṇa, king of the Yakshas, was chief of the North, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, king of the Gandharvas, of the East, Virūḍhaka, king of the Kumbhāṇḍas (the ithyphallic dwarf), of the South, and Virūpāksha, king of the Nāgas, of the West; all the four in reality receiving homage as Mahā-Rāja Gods, who are labelled as Yaksha on the Bharhut railing.

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The most important synonym of Yaksha was Brahman, the Mahābhārata referring to a Yaksha festival as Brahma Maha in which members of all the four Varṇas took part in a festive mood (tataste brāhmaṇāḥ sarve kshatriyāścha suvismitāḥ, vaiśyāḥ śūdrāś cha muditāḥ chakrur brahma-maham tadā, Ādi Parva, 152, 18). In the Matsya country round about Jaipur at its capital city Viraṭa, there used to be a big Yaksha festival or Brahma Maha which was supervised by the king himself and at which wrestling bouts formed the main feature. From the earliest times Yaksha came to be associated with long life and wealth and it was an important factor in their cult becoming so popular. In iconography we find Yakshas holding a nectar flask. The Yaksha city is called Brahma-pura in the Śānti Parva and referred to as inviolable (avadhyam-Brahma-puram, Śānti Parva 171.15). Indeed the belief in the death-conquering ability of the Yakshas was so deep-rooted that even the gods Saṅkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva have been given the epithet anihata, a synonym of avadhya, in the Ghosundi inscription.

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The Atharvaveda describes a Yaksha abode as *aparājita Brahma-purī* (AV. 10.2.29-33). The Yaksha cult finds an important place in the religious stream of the Atharvaveda and we also meet with attempts at sublimating the imagery of Yaksha since the Creator himself is referred to as the Great Yaksha standing in centre of these worlds, walking on water or the primeval flood and deriving his movements from the power of Heat (*mahad yaksham bhuvanasya madhye tapasi krāntam salilasya prishṭhe*). The latter feature is well known since the Yaksha conversing with Yudhishṭhira was the deity of a lake and several big images of Yakshas have been found on the banks of ponds or rivers, as in the case of the towering Yaksha from Besnagar which is 12 ft. high. A Yaksha was also called Mahat or *Adbhuta*, the former term is often used, and Buddha speaks of Mahat-worship (*mahadupaṭṭhāna*) as of lowly character (*tirachchhāna vijjā, micchā jīvā*, Brahmajāla Sutta).

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In the Ṛigveda Yaksha worship is mentioned several times but not as an approved way. The followers of Mitra and Varuṇa are desired to remain free from Yaksha influence (RV. VII.61.5). It is prayed that in the face of Mitra and Varuṇa of wondrous powers (*adbhuta-kratu*) being present, there was no need of a deity like Yaksha (RV. V.70.4). In one place Agni is said to be big enough to be even the lord of Yaksha (*Yakshasyādhyakshaṃ tavishaṃ brihantam*, RV, X.88.13). There is a more specific reference in which the abode of Yaksha or a Yaksha shrine is explicitly mentioned (*yakshaṃ sadam*, RV. IV.3.13), ‘praying to Agni that he should not visit the place of a Yaksha to which deluded persons were going’, probably a reference to the lower class of people, not following the Aryan deities and who believed in the Yaksha cult. But there is one reference to show that the Yakshas began to be associated with beautiful form even in the Ṛigveda, the Maruts being compared to beautiful goodlooking and benevolent Yakshas (*yakshadriśo na śobhayantamaryāḥ*, RV. VII.56.16). This aspect of the Yakshas being good spirits gradually found deeper root as in the Gṛihya Sūtras where the new student admitted to the Vedic school wishes himself to be as loving to the eye as a Yaksha (*yakshamiva chakshushaḥ priyo vā bhūyāsam*, Gobhila G.S. 3. 4. 28, Drāhyāyaṇa G. S. 3. 1. 25). This phase of Yaksha cult gained strength and during the Janapada period (c. 1200-500 B.C.) the Yaksha cult established its authority over the whole people, as we find in the Pāli and Ardha-Māgadhī literature. (*Nāyā-dhamma-kahā*, 1. 25; *Rāyapaseniya*, Kaṇḍikā 1. 48). Amongst the several lists of the cult-festivals including as many as 20 or more names we find *Yakkha Maha* or *Vessamaṇa-maha* as one of them. The Atharva reflecting the popular beliefs more faithfully is full of the glorification of the Yaksha god saying that all the chiefs in the kingdom pay homage to the great Yaksha (*mahad Yakshaṃ bhuvanasya madhye tasmai balim rāshṭra-bhrito bharanti*, AV. 10. 8. 15). As a matter of fact the belief in the Nāgas and the Yakshas was rooted in the soil. These deities were taken wholesale in the Hindu religion and in this process a great deal of mutual borrowing took place. Indra, Varuṇa, Aryamā, all leading Vedic gods, whose essential features were fixed in the Ṛigveda quit their high pedestal and mingle with the lowly Yakshas. In Greece, too, the gods of the Olympian heights came to mingle with Hermes or rough stone monuments representing local godlings before actual images were planned for them. In the list of Yakshas given in the Mahābhārata, the Buddhist literature and the Purāṇas, we find that most of these Vedic gods are identified as Yakshas. In a Sūtra of Pāṇini (V. 3. 84) giving a list of godlings after whom personal names were adopted for children by their parents, we find mention of Śevala, Supari, and Viśāla (names of Yakshas) read with Varuṇa and Aryamā, who originally were Vedic deities, but in this context are names af Yakshas. Viśāla is one of the assembly of Yakshas attending the Vaiśravaṇa Sabhā in the Sabhā Parva (10. 16). Varuṇa is a Yaksha chief in the list of the Āṭānāṭiya Suttanta (Digha Nikāya, III, 195; Dialogues of the Buddha, vol. III) which text mentions Indra, Soma, Varuṇa, Prajāpati along with Māṇibhadra and Ālavaka as Yaksha chiefs. In the Yaksha list of the Mahā-Māyūrī, an important and religious text, Viṣṇu is the name of the Yaksha of Dvārakā.

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Several important Yaksha shrines are mentioned, e.g. Yaksha Śākya Vardhana at Kapilavastu, Yaksha Pūrṇabhadra at Champā, Yaksha Moggara-pāṇi at Rājagṛiha, Indra-śaila Yaksha near Rājagṛiha, Yakshiṇī shrine probably of Jarā or Hāritī at Rājagṛiha (Araṇyaka, 83. 23), a Yaksha in the gateway at Vaiśālī, Yaksha Suchiloma near Rājagṛiha, Chaitya of Yaksha Śaradamya at Vaiśālī and of Māṇibhadra in Mithilā. The details of worship included music, dance, offering of lights, flowers, eatables, etc., a code different from the Vedic Yajñas and similar to the patram, puṣpam, phalam, toyam manner of the Gītā.

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As regards the Yaksha images we find two equally strong traditions, viz. aniconic forms continuing up to now and the dominant sized images described above as a group of the wide geographical distribution from Kurukshetra to Orissa and Naḷiā Sopārā on the western coast near Bombay. The Atharvaveda had set a norm for these big images calling them Yaksham ātmanvat, the big-bodied one (AV. 10.2.32). The epic described the Yaksha as colossal in size (mahā-kāya), lofty like the palm (tāla samuchchhrita), towering high like a mountain (parvatopama), radiant like the sun and fire, death-conquering (adhṛishya, Araṇyaka Parva, 297. 20 21), and of great physical strength (mahā-bala). The available Yaksha statues literally confirm this definition, and as every art critic has observed, they are most impressive by their size and ponderous volume magnificently conceived as free-standing deities, commanding the whole countryside and worshipped as Yakshas (Hindi, जाख, जखैया) for about 2500 years. From the point of view of art, these statues appear as grand ancestors of the subsequent Bodhisattva, Buddha, Tīrthaṅkara and Viṣṇu images; not only the size and plastic effect but the various elements of drapery and ornamentation were adopted by later artists called upon to evolve an iconographic formula for new divine figures. This is a point which cannot be over emphasised in a history of Indian art, an appraisal of which helps us to understand clearly the origins of the Kuṣāṇa and Gupta statuary. It is certain that the tradition of folk art had an independent style of greater vitality than even the court art of the Mauryan times. Also, the stone images of Yakshas may belong to the fourth-third centuaries but the iconographic idiom was of much greater antiquity, and rendered through the medium of clay, a feature suriving to our own times.

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We still find some very big images made temporarily of earth and worshipped for a time only, both in North India and the South (Tamil, Ayyanār images). Thus the iconographic tradition of the Yaksha figures have been preserved. The right hand was shown in abhaya-mudrā, a divine feature later on accepted for Buddha, Bodhisattva and other images. Sometimes the flywisk was a distinguishing emblem of Yaksha or Yakṣī image (cf. the Dīdārganj Yakṣī), the idea being that these deities were attendant on their king, Mahā-rāja Vaiśravaṇa or Kubera and this was a mark of honour proclaiming their relationship with the god of wealth and immortality. There are long lists of Yaksha names but of them five were chosen as a group named Pañcha Vīra, viz. Māṇibhadra, Pūrṇabhadra, Dīrghabhadra, Yakshabhadra and Svabhadra, who in the gradual replacing of the Yaksha hegemony by Bhāgavata deities became a group of the five Vṛiṣhṇi heroes (Pañcha-Vṛiṣhṇi Vīras) (as Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Sāmba) mentioned in the Morā Well-Inscription from Mathura. It was believed that an auspicious Jewel (Bhadra Maṇi) was in the custody of Yaksha Māṇibhadra, a close associate of Kubera and the Master of his treasures. Wealth and immortality or long life were the two human factors which made Yaksha worship of irresistible appeal to the folk mind. Religion, literature and art all testify to the importance of this ancient cult.

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