________________
60
The Dreadful Deterrents
with Nāgas, gods, Gandharvas etc, Kubera, Ganesa, Manibhadda etc. are of this type. The good-natured Yakşas are later on described as the attendants of gods like Gūha on Kātrikeya, 28 supporter of friendly service, gate-keeper and world-protector. But Yakşas of malevolent nature used to disturb the penance of ascetics and moral behaviour of good people, as happens in the case of Kāmadeva, Cūlanīpiya, Surādeva and Cullasayaga in the Uvāsagadasão. Such Yakşas are Yakşagrahas i.e. a kind of demons who take possession of others and cause diseases.
Bt nevolent Yakşas are regarded as tutelary deities. They are worshipped as Sylvan deities, 29 as well as family deities. In the Siddhārtha's family Yakșa was known as sākyavardhana. Such Yakşa is a tutelary deity to whom tne children were presented.30 It is interesting to note that the Brahmins used to worship such a tutelary deity as Yakşa along with a family deities such as Kuladevi, śiva, Ganesa etc.31 Such deities protect a devotee from malevolent spirits,
The abode of a Yaksa is often represented as Caitya Pali : Cetiya; Prakrit : Ceiya, or Ayatana (Prakrit: Āyayana), which may be outside a city in a grove, on a mountain or ghāța. The word "Caitya' sometimes means no more than a sacred tree or a tree with an altar. Such are designated as Caitya-vrkşas.32 Kalidasa also refers to such 'Grāmacaityas'33. Such holy trees should not be injured as they are the abodes of Devas, Yakşas, Rakşasas etc. Buddha is often said to be halting or resting at such abode of Yakşa. Bodhi-tree of Gautama is also known as Yakşabhavana. Māra who disturbed Siddhārtha Gautama was that malevolent Yakşa, while Sakyavardhana, his family Yaksa is tenevotent by nature.
In Uvāsagadasão we find Mahāvīra in such Caitya, as Hoernle assumes that the Caitya must have been sacred to the previous Jina Pārsvanātha, but that may be a Jakkha shrine and not a Jain temple, as no Jain Pujā cult was established in the time of Mahāvīra..
Sāla, Āmra, Plak$1, Asoka, Asvattha, Vata etc.34 are said to be the abodes of Yakşas in the Buddhist and Puranic literature.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
