Yaksha information

Yaksha

"Parkham Yaksha" Manibhadra, 150 BCE

"Mudgarpani Yaksha", 100 BCE^[1]

Remains of the colossal statues of the Parkham Yaksha (150 BCE) and the Mudgarpani ("Mace-holder") Yaksha (100 BCE), Mathura. These colossal statues stand around two metres tall.^[1] The Mudgarpani Yaksha holds a mudgar mace in the right hand, and the left hand used to support a small standing devotee or child joining hands in prayer.^[2]^[3]
Art of Mathura, Mathura Museum

The Yakshas (Sanskrit: यक्ष, IAST: Yakṣa, Pali: Yakkha) are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness.^[4]^[5] They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities.^[5]^[6] The feminine form of the word is IAST: Yakṣī^[7] or Yakshini (Sanskrit: यक्षिणी, IAST: Yakṣiṇī; Pali: Yakkhini).^[8]

In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, the yakṣas have a dual personality. On the one hand, a yakṣa may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is also a darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of (bhuta) that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travellers, similar to the rakṣasas.

^ ^a ^b Dated 100 BCE. Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE. BRILL. p. 368, fig. 88. ISBN 9789004155374.
^ Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE. BRILL. p. 365, fig. 85. ISBN 9789004155374.
^ Dalal, Roshen (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books India. p. 398. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
^ Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. New Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 430. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.
^ ^a ^b Stefon, Matt. "Yaksha | Hindu mythology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
^ Richard John Richards (1995). South-east Asian Ceramics: Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer: From the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Oxford University Press. pp. 27, 67. ISBN 978-967-65-3075-2.
^ For यक्षी as the feminine of यक्षः see V. S. Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 776.
^ For yakṣiṇī (यक्षिणी) as a regular Sanskrit term for a female yakṣa, and yakṣaṇī as a Buddhist variant, see Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, Vol. 2, Motilal Banarsidass, first Ed., 1953, p. 442.

[SRQF88-1] Dated 100 BCE. Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE. BRILL. p. 368, fig. 88. ISBN 9789004155374.

[2] Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE. BRILL. p. 365, fig. 85. ISBN 9789004155374.

[3] Dalal, Roshen (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books India. p. 398. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.

[4] Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. New Delhi: Pearson Education. p. 430. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.

[eb-5] Stefon, Matt. "Yaksha | Hindu mythology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 15 July 2007.

[6] Richard John Richards (1995). South-east Asian Ceramics: Thai, Vietnamese, and Khmer: From the Collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Oxford University Press. pp. 27, 67. ISBN 978-967-65-3075-2.

[7] For यक्षी as the feminine of यक्षः see V. S. Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 776.

[8] For yakṣiṇī (यक्षिणी) as a regular Sanskrit term for a female yakṣa, and yakṣaṇī as a Buddhist variant, see Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, Vol. 2, Motilal Banarsidass, first Ed., 1953, p. 442.

Yaksha information

and 23 Related for: Yaksha information

Yaksha

Yaksha Kingdom

Yaksha Prashna

Parkham Yaksha

Dhruva

Shikhandi

List of Yakshas

Yakshini

Yaksha perettii

Yakshagaanam

Jakh Botera

Ramkinkar Baij

Kubera

Yudhishthira

Yakshagana

Prince Vijaya

Buddhist deities

Yama

Yaksa

Mudgarpani

Alaka

List of Gandharvas

Bhadra