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Sasana-Devatās
207
The Pindaniryukti refers to the shrine of Manibhadra yakṣa which lay outside the town of Samilla in a garden (udyāna) and was furnished with an assembly-hall (sabha). When small-pox broke out in the town, he was requested by the inhabitants to save them from the epidemic. When the trouble subsided, the citizens besmeared the hall with cow-dung on every aṣṭami and other days.16
The Yakṣas are reported to be constructive genii, skilled in town-planning and architecture. All through the ages, even to this day, folk-tales speak of construction of palaces, roads, etc., in a night by the yaksas. The Vasudevahindi describes the city of Vinītā, the capital of Rṣabhanatha, planned and constructed by Vesamana, at the bidding of Sakra. 17 The yaksas are famous for their function as gatekeepers in the Samavasarana of a Jina,18 and as Lords of Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparajita dvāras or gates of the jagati of the Jambudvipa.18 Kautilya's reference to the shrines of Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta and Aparajita19 in the centre of the city-fortifications is especially noteworthy. They are Yakşa-devatās as can be inferred from the Jaina evidence noted above. A Yakṣa Anadhiya20 (Anadṛta) is the Lord of the whole of Jambudvipa according to the Jaina traditions, and it is obvious that this function as a superintending deity is based upon the conception that he is the protector of Jambudvipa...
The malefic character of Yaksas from earlier Jaina texts may now be examined. Śūlapāņi Yakṣa at Asthikagrāma (bone-city) near Vardhamana-pura used to kill the local people and those who stayed in his shrine. The village came to be so called from the heap of bones of such dead bodies. A shrine was built for this Yaksa on the ashes of a bull who after death was reborn as Yakṣa Sūlapāņi.21 He tried to disturb Mahavira in his meditations when the sage spent a night in this shrine but the Yaksa was ultimately overpowered and worshipped Mahavira. A wooden statue of Yakşa Surapriya which was carved along with attendant pratihāryas (sannihitapāḍihere) was painted every year, the painter being finally killed by the Yakşa himself. The shrine (Jakkhāyayaṇa) of Surapriya was situated to the north-east outside the city of Saketa.22 A Yakṣa indulging in the habit of violating vows of Jaina monks is referred to in the Brhatkalpa-Bhasya.23 People were believed to have been possessed by Yakṣas (Jakkhāvesa, Yakṣagraha), Bhutas and other spirits; Ajjunaya, a garland bearer of Rajagṛha, obsessed by Moggarapani Yakṣa, killed six gangsters and his own wife with the iron-mace which the Yakşa (statue of wood) held in his hand.24 The Jambudvipaprajñapti25 refers to Indaggaha, Khandaggaha, Kumaraggaha, Jakkhaggaha and Bhuyaggaha. Yaksas used to enjoy sexual intercourse with girls.20
While the Vaṇamantari (Vyantari Yakṣas belong to this Vyantara or Vaṇamantara class) Sălejjā is said to have paid reverence to Mahavira, in the Salavana-Udyana outside the village of Bahuśālaka, another Vaṇamantari, Kaḍapāyaṇā (Katha-pūtana) by name, caused him trouble but was ultimately subdued.27
The Adambara Jakkha, also known as Hiraḍikka Jakkha, was the Yakṣa of the Matangas,28 who were regarded as low-class people, similarly the people known as Dombas worshipped as their tutelary deity the Ghantika Jakkha, who whispered in the ear when questioned about future.29 This Yakṣa seems to have been incorporated in Śaivism as a Vira, Ghaṇṭākarna by name.30 Thus the deities of people who formed the earliest inhabitants of India, the Muṇḍas, Nagas, etc. (perhaps Negritos, Austrics and others), were being incorporated gradually by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They were mainly popular deities, worshipped by various classes of the Indian masses, sometimes benefic and at times malefic in nature. As we shall see later on, Kali and other Vidyās are regarded as Vidyas of the Matanga class, at times called Canḍālas in Indian literature, and it is in the beliefs and practices of these ancient inhabitants of India that the origin of the worship of a large number of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina deities ultimately lies.
The railing pillar figures of Yaksas and Yakṣints at Bharhut show that they had to be included in places of worship though an inferior status of decorative pillar sculptures was assigned to them. The same is the case with such figures from the Kankali Tila, Mathura.31 For want of names inscribed below them, it is not possible to recognise them, but it is noteworthy that they have vahanas (dwarf, elephant, etc.) below their feet. The earliest known Yakşa and Yakşi statues are the Didarganj Yakşi, the Yakṣa from Baroda, near Mathura, the Parkham Yakṣa, the two Patna statues in the Indian Museum, the
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