Yaksha

The Yakshas (Sanskrit: यक्ष, romanized: yakṣa; Pali: yakkha) are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities. The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or yakshini (Sanskrit: यक्षिणी, romanized: yakṣiṇī; Pali: yakkhini).

For other uses, see Yaksha (disambiguation).

Yaksha
"Parkham Yaksha" Manibhadra, 150 BCE
"Mudgarpani Yaksha", 100 BCE
Remains of the colossal statues of the Parkham Yaksha (150 BCE) and the Mudgarpani ("Mace-holder") Yaksha (100 BCE), Mathura. These colossal statues stand around two metres tall. The Mudgarpani Yaksha holds a mudgar mace in the right hand, and the left hand used to support a small standing devotee or child joining hands in prayer.
Art of Mathura, Mathura Museum

In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, the yakṣa has a dual personality. On the one hand, a yakṣa may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is also a darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of ghost (bhuta) that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travellers, similar to the rakṣasas.

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