YAKSAS. The Sanskrit designation Yaksa, of uncertain deri vation, is applied upon occasion to practically every Indian deity, and even to the Buddha, in an honorific sense. Later, in sectarian and especially in Buddhist literature, the Yaksas are represented in the interests of edification either as devoted assistants and defenders of the faith, or as inferior beings of an ogre type. More generally we may say that Yaksas are supernatural beings, deities of varying rank, who have once been men, and will be re born again on earth. Generally speaking benevolent, they are closely connected with vegetation, human fertility and wealth; they are essentially tree spirits, others being more like gnomes; they possess magic powers, especially that of concealment.
The cult of Yaksas seems to have been at one time the domi nant aspect of popular religion in India ; it may be described as an early form of devotional Hinduism, perhaps going back to a period in history contemporary with the Vedas. In the Atharva Veda and in certain Upanisads the Brahman itself is called "a great Yaksa," and the indwelling spirit in Man a "self-like Yaksa." The individual Yaksas are for the most part local and tutelary deities; the Sayas, for example, worshipped the Yaksa Sakya vardhana. "He who prospers the Sakyas." Other Yaksas are the
guardian angels (arakkhadevata) of individuals. Others called Guhyakas are earth spirits who function as the bearers of ve hicles and as supporters of buildings, like Atlantids. The chief of the Yaksas is Kubera or Vaikumaria, who is mentioned already in the Atharva Veda, and is best known as the great king who is regent of the north, where are his heaven, palaces and groves. He is essentially a god of wealth; his chief symbols are a lotus and a conch represented as fountains of money; as a tree-spirit he is associated with the banyan (see Plate, fig. 8). Another great Yaksa is his generalissimo, Mariibhadra. A group of 28 Yaksa kings is mentioned in more than one place, but the total number of Yaksas mentioned in the literature is very large. Many have come to be regarded as local manifestations of higher Brahmanical deities, especially Siva. Kamadeva, the god of love, belongs appro priately to the Yaksa class; his symbol, the makara (mythical crocodile), represents the waters, or rather an essence in the waters, identical with the sap of trees, the water of life (amrta).