Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 313

CHAPTER IX
YAKŞA-YAKŞİ OR SASANADEVATĀ
The Yakṣas and Yakṣis constituting a class of semi-divine beings of Jaina pantheon are technically known as Śāsanadevatās, guardian deities, of the order who always live close to the Jinas. Praśāsanāḥ śāsanadevatāśca yā Jināmscaturvitsatimäśritāḥ sadā Hitāḥ satāmpraticakrayānvitāḥ prayācitāḥ sannihita bhavantu tāḥ -Harivamsa Puraṇa, 66.43-44.
They figure in Jaina pantheon as the subsidiary deities. According to the Jaina belief, Indra appoints a Yakṣa and a Yakṣī to serve as attendants upon every Jina. Thus they are mainly the attendant spirits regarded as devotees of the Jinas (upāsaka-devas). In Jaina representations they possess varying attributes and mounts. While images of vitaragi Jinas exhibit spiritual grace and beauty, the figures of Yakṣas and Yakṣis (either with Jinas or in independent examples) exhibit physical and decorative charm and beauty, besides divine grace and powers.
The early Jaina works like Bhagavati Sūtra, Tattvärtha Sutra, Antagadadasão and Paumacariyam make frequent references to the Yakṣa worship. Of all the Yakṣas, Māṇibhadra and Pūrṇabhadra Yakṣas and Bahuputrikā Yakṣī appear to have been the favourite ones. It may be noted that the earliest Yakṣa-Yaksi pair (Sarvānubhūti or Kubera and Ambikā) associated with the Jina was evolved from the ancient concept of Manibhadra-Pūrṇabhadra Yakṣas and Bahuputrika Yaksi. The Yakṣa-Yaksi pair conceived as the Śāsanadevatā makes its first appearance in art in c. 6th century A.D. The earliest instances in which the yakṣa-yakși are sometimes represented with the Jinas and sometimes separately, are known from Akota in Gujarat.
The Jaina works from c. 6th to the 9th century A.D. mention only some of the iconographic features of Yakṣarāja (Sarvanubhūti) and Dharanendra Yakṣas and
Cakreśvarī, Ambika and Padmavati Yakṣis. The list of the twenty-four Yakṣas and Yakṣis was finalized in about 8th-9th century A.D. as found in the Kahavali, Tiloyapannatti (4.934-39) and Pravacanasāroddhāra (37578), while their independent iconographic forms were conceived in c. 10th-12th centuries A.D. as mentioned in the Nirvaṇakalikā, Trisaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra, Pratisthāsärasaṁgraha, Pratisthäsäroddhāra, and many more works (15th-16th century A.D.) like the Pratisthätilakam and Acaradinakara. However, we find much differences between the Svetambara and the Digambara traditions as to the names and other iconographic features of the Yaksas and Yaksis.
The names of Matanga, Yakṣeśvara and Iśvara Yakṣas and Naradattā, Mānavi, Acyutā and some other Yakṣis occur with more than one Jina in both the traditions. Bhrkuti has been invoked both as Yaksa and Yakṣi. The names and the iconographic features of the majority of the Yakṣas and Yakṣis bear the influence of the Brahmanical gods and goddesses. The Jainas seem to have adopted either the names or the distinct iconographic features, sometimes both, in such cases.
The gods and goddesses borrowed from Brāhmaṇa pantheon may be put into three groups. The first group consists of the Yakṣa-Yakṣī pairs made up of minor divinities who are not known to have been related with each other before their adoption in Jainism. The second group comprises the pairs who are related with each other, such as Isvara and Gauri, respectively the Yakşa and Yakṣi of Śreyamsanatha, who are none else but Śiva and his Sakti. The third group includes Gomukha and Cakreśvari, respectively the Yakṣa and Yakṣi of Rṣabhanatha, who are Jaina transformation of Śiva and Vaisnavi, the two principal deities of Śaiva and Vaisnava
sects.