Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s2.1.3

c11.s2.1.3

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).