Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c75.s3.72

v2.c75.s3.72

*Jambhāla* was known long before the Dhyānī Buddhas were ushered into existence. Jambhāla like Kuber was connected with wealth and is said to distribute gems and riches to his devotees and so for such a deity who could have been better fitted than Ratnasambhava ‘born of jewels’ to become his sire. Now the characteristic features of Jambhāla (here in this emanation cf. his another emanation from Akṣobhya) are firstly that he carries the mongoose (the receptacle of all gems and jewels) in his right hand and the citron in the left and secondly he is associated with Yakṣas (who are also connected with wealth, being the guardian of treasures and the attendants of Kubera the Hindu god of wealth). He is represented single as well as in yab-yum, in the latter he is accompanied with Vasudhārā, his consort and so when represented in this union he sits on the moon under which is the double lotus of eight petals, which in their turn are occupied by the eight Yakṣas—Maṇibhadra, Pūrṇabhadra, Dhanada, Vaiśravaṇa, Kelimālī Civi-kuṇḍalī, Sukhendra and Carendra and they in their turn are also in conjugation with their Yakṣiṇīs—Citrakālī, Dattā, Sudattā, Āryā, Subhadrā, Guptā, Devī and Sarasvatī, all of them partaking the appearance after Vasudhārā.