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Lord Mahāvīra's Religious Contemporaries and Sects
191
pectively. 1 YAKSHA WORSHIP
From the Brahmanical, the Jaina, and the Buddhist sources, it appears that Yakshas were objects of worship. In Vedic literature, the word 'Yaksha' signifies a supernatural being, or a ghost-like appearance. In the sixth century B.C., the worship of the Yakshas or Jakkhas became very popular, and so every important city had its own shrine dedicated to the Yaksha. The Yakshas sometimes granted worldy desires, especially progeny and wealth while some of the Yakshas have been associated with cosmological functions, others are looked upon as malevolent beings who take possession of men's persons inducing in them symptoms of frenzy.
Yaksha Ganditinduga of Vārāṇasī guarded the great sage Mātanga in the Tinduga garden. Bihelaga was another Yaksha who paid reverence to Lord Mahāvīra when the latter was engrossed in meditation.3 Gangadatta,“ Subhadda,s and Bhaddā were blessed with a child by the worship of the Yakshas. The Yakshas are also said to have cured diseases, Pūrṇabhadra and Manibhadra, both Yakshas, seem to be more popular, for to them offerings of food were made. Some of the Yakshas caused trouble to the people and often were satisfied only after killing them. We hear of Sūlapāņi Jakkla who used to kill persons who happened to stay in his shrinc. Another strange belief regarding the Jakklas was that they enjoyed sexual intercourse with human maidens. Thc Ganditindurga Jakkha is said to have had sexual intercourse with the princess Bhaddā.
Like Yakshas, the Vanainantaris or thc Jakklinis also played an important part in ancient Indian life. The lāna1. Digha, II, 220-21. 2. Utlarā. 12 and the com. p. 173 (a). 3. dra, Nir, 457. 4. Vivāgasuya. 7, p. 42 f; also of Hatthipala
Jä. (IV. No. 509), p. 474. 5. sro, ch:1, II, p. 193. 6. Vozā, ?, p. 496. 7. Nisf.cha, 11, ... 709. 8. Aro, chii, pp. 272.-4. ?. Gardaliridu ja. (No. 520).
