Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s2.4

c11.s2.4

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).