Indian Antiquary Vol 57

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 79

APRIL, 1928)
VEDIC STUDIES
61
with bhutas that in a story related in the Jñatâdharmakatha (Adhyayana 16, p. 1149) the wives of three Brahmana brothers are respectively named Nagasiri, Bhûyasiri and Jakkhasiri, 36
The details given above show how close is the correspondence between the words yaksha and bhùta in post-vedic literature. This correspondence is no less close in the Vedic literature also, as can be seen from the comparison of some passages of the Bphad. Upanishad. In this Upanishad, the word mahat is found used as a qualifying epithet in five passages only; in one it is an epithet of karma (1, 4, 15 : mahat punyam harma karote) while in the other four, it is an epithet of Brahman described as mahad bhútam in two passages (2, 4, 10: asya mahalo bhålasya nisvasitam etad yad Rgvedo Yajurvedah.. ; 2, 4, 12: idam mahad bhútam anantam apáram vijnanaghana eva) and as mahad yaksha m in two other sentences occurring in 5, 4, 1 (sayo hailan mahad yaksham prathamajam veda satyam brahmeti ; evam etan mahad yaksham prathamajam veda satyam brahmeti). In the same way, to the epithet yakshasya adhyaksham used of Agni Vaisvânara in RV. 10, 88, 13 corresponds the epithet blitasya adhyakshah used in AV. 1. 31. 1 of the four dsdpalah 'lords of the quarters' (of whom Agni is one); compare also bhůtasya .... patir eka dsit in RV. 10, 121, 1. Similarly, at. Br. 11, 2, 3, 5 : mahad dhaiva yaksham bhavati corresponds to Asv. GS. 3,9,6 : (sndtako vai) mahad bhůtam bhavali: and the words yaksha and bhuta are used parallelly in TB. 3, 11, 1, 1: trayidam antah | visvam yaksham višvam bhitam vitvam subhůtam.
It follows then from all this, and especially from the correspondence of mahad yaksham with mahad bhalam in the Upanishad passages noted above, that the two words are convertible and that yaksha=bhůta. And it is remarkable that Bhaskararåya, the famous and most learned Tantrik writer of the Sakta school, has explained yaksham in AV. 10, 2, 32, as mahâbhůtam. It seems to have been felt by Roth too that yaksha is equivalent to bhůta: for in the PW. (s.v. yaksha) he has correctly explained yaksha in AV. 8, 9, 8; RV. 10, 88, 13 and TB. 3, 11, 1, 1 as 'die Wesen' and the word yakshabhrt in RV. 1, 190, 4, as die Wesen tragend, erhaltend'. The commentator Bhattabhåskara, too, has, on the other hand, as we have seen above, explained the word bhůta in TA, 1, 31, 123 as yakshaguhyaka.
Now the chief meanings of bhúla are-a) being (concrete); such beings in the collective all beings, the creation world, universe ; a particular class of superhuman beings; evil being, evil spirit ; and (b) being (abstract), essence, substance, virtue, might, power, etc. The meanings essence, substance, might, power,' etc., are not given by the lexicographers ; but nevertheless, there can be no doubt that bhůta has these meanings quite regularly, for it is derived from the root bhû, which means not only 'to be ' but also to be powerful, to prevail, to predominate, to be master of '; compare the meanings of the cognate words bhava and prabhava and of the allied word sattva, which is derived likewise from a root (as) meaning 'to be' and which is a synonym of bhúta. And these meanings of bhůta are enough, as I shall show now, to explain the sense of the majority of the passages in which the word yaksha (which, as I have shown above, is its synonym) occurs.
Brhad. Up. 5, 4: lad vai tad tad eva tad disa satyam em sa yo haitan mahad yaksham prathamajam veda salyam brahmeli jayatimail lokán jita in nv asdu asad ya evam etan mahad yaksham prathamajam veda salyam brahmeti satyam hy eva brahma || "That (namely, Brahman), verily, was this (universe); that verily was the Real. He who knows this great first-born being, Brahman, as the Real, conquers these worlds. How could he be conquered who knows that this great first-born being, Brahman, is verily the Real ? For Brahman is verily the Real." The epithet 'first-born,' prathamaja, seems here to be used in the sense of 'first existing '; compare BỊhad. Up. 1, 4, 10: brahma va idam agra doit. Compare also TA. 10, 1, 4: prajá palih prathamaja' plásyatma' nútmá' nani abhí sam' babhúva.
35 Compare also saraksta igasutra, p. 674 : gagaheut od bhdyaheum va jakkhaheum od for the purpose of (worshipping) ndgas, bhutas or yakahas.