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AUGUST, 1928)
VEDIC STUDIES
147
Ardechuna's Reise zu Indra's Himmel. The name caitya thus is applied to a tree for the same reason that it is applied to a temple-namely, because the tree is, like the temple, the abode of & yaksha, bhuta or other supernatural being and is thus holy and deserving of worship. The same is the case with the word yaksha also ; this name is applied to temples as also to trees, that are the abodes of yakshas, bhůtas or similar superhuman beings and are thus holy and deserving of worship. I have cited above (p. 59) instances of the name yaksha denoting temples; this verse is an instance of the word yaksha denoting trees.
This closes the list of passages where the word yaksha (neuter) occurs. M. Boyer however is of opinion that this word yaksha is found, further, (as a component of the word yakshya) in RV. 8. 60.3 also : ágne kavir vedha' asi hota pavaka yákshyah I mandró yájishtho adhvaréshu i'd yo viprebhiḥ śukra mánmabhih and has explained yakshya there as having a marvellous form'. As he has himself observed, however, (l.c., p. 394) the expression hota pavaka yákshyah in 8, 60, 3 is parallel to agnih pdvaká i'd yah in 3, 27, 4, to súcih påvaká i'dyah in 7, 15, 10, and to súcih pavaka vándyah in 2, 7, 4; and since the word yaksha itself is, as has been shown above, derived from the root yaj, there is not the least doubt that yakshya comes from yaj 'to worship. I believe therefore that the verge means: "Thou, O Agni, art the wise one, the worshipper, and the adorable hotr, O purifier; thou art dear, the most capable in sacrificing, praised in sacrifices, O brilliant one, with hymns by priests."
The meanings of yaksha therefore are: 1. worship, object of worship, sacrifice (and perhaps utsava, festival). 2. (a) being (concrete), beings in the collective, the creation, universe, world ; a particular class of superhuman beings; evil beings; (6) being (abstract); reality, essence, principle, substance, virtue, power, might. The meanings enumerated under 2. are those of the word bhůta which is a synonym of yaksha and of sattva which is a synonym of bhuta; they seem to be radhi meanings, while those enumerated under 1 are clearly yogarthas.
It becomes apparent from what has gone above that yaksha masculine has the same relation to yaksha neuter as bhula masculine bears to bhůta neuter. Bhula neuter has a large number of meanings (see above; see also Apte, s.v., and PW.) including those of being (concrete), a class of superhuman being; evil being ;' while bhuta masculine has these meanings only and no other. Similarly yaksha masculine too means the same, namely, being (concrete), superhuman being, evil being' while yaksha ncuter signifies these things, and also, many other things in addition. Similar too, it may be noted, is the relation of sattva masculine to sattva neuter; the masculine word signifies being (concreto), not-human being, (and not *superhuman being' only; saltm is used of animals also),' evil being' while the neuter word has these as well as other significations.
This explains the use of the word yaksha masculine in Buddhist literature in contexts where the usual meaning of guhyaka' or 'follower of Kubera ' is inapplicable, and where therefore the translators have in some cases felt perplexed. Thus, in Samyutta Nikdya, III. 2.25 (and elsewhere too ; see Index to the Transl. of Sam. Nik, in BE., vol. 10), M&ra (who is not a guhyaka or follower of Kubera) is called a yakkha ; in the Milindapanha, IV. 4. 32 (p. 202), the term yakkha is used in connection with Devadatta and the Bodhisatta who were at that time (see Jataka-story No. 457 ; vol. IV, pp. 100 ff.) born as deva puttas. Similarly, in the translation of this book (SBE. vol. 35, p. 289, n. 2), Prof. Rhys Davids has observed that 'this is by no means the only instance of the term yakkha being used of gods'. In the same way, Prof. Kern has noted (Manual of Indian Buddhism, p. 59, n. 9) that the epithet yakkha is applied sometimes to Indra (e.g., in Majjh. Nik. I, p. 251) and the Buddha (f. i. in ibid., I, p. 386 : Ahuneyyo yakkho uttamapuggalo atulo) and that it is used of devaputlas in Sam. Nik., I, P., 54.44 The expression yaklhassa suddhi too is found used in Sam. Nik., III, 4,25 and IV, 11, 14-15 :
44 Similarly Otto Franke in his translation of parts of the Dighanikdya, has observed on p. 94, noto 6, that the word Yakkha is used oocasionally to signify devas also.
