Appendix 1 - The Position of Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs in Jainism

This appendix is intended to provide complete information regarding the twenty-four Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs in Jainism. Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs played an important role in Jainism, though Jains mainly worship idols of the Jainas or Tīrthaṅkars. In the early religious traditions of India, the Yakṣas along with other gods came to be identified as the 'creatures of wild and forest'. In Jainism, they were introduced as the guardians of the Jainas, also known as śāsanadevatās, ‘guardian’s angels' and 'protectors of the Jainism'. They were regarded to be belonging to a class of semi-gods or supernatural beings. All the twenty-four Tīrthaṅkaras were said to be protected by a pair of Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī and the Jains even now offer them elaborate worship for boons, blessings and protection.

Basically Yakṣa cult was a relic of non-Aryan worship. According to Fergusson, ‘Tree and serpent worship i.e. the worship of Yakṣas and Nāgas, powers of fertility and rainfall, was the primitive faith of the aboriginal casteless Dāsyus who inhabited Northern India before the advent of the Āryans’^[1]. A.K. Coomaraswamy also opines on the basis of the discoveries found from the Indus valley civilization that the worship of deities like Yakṣas and Nāgas was very much prevalent in the indigenous non-Āryan people in India^[2]. In Indian Jain sculptural tradition, they are also known as attendant deities to the Tīrthaṅkaras. Very often they are not distinguished from Devas and Devatās which is clearly experienced by their worship in their temples. According to the Jain faith, Indra appoints one Yakṣa-Yakṣiṇī couple to serve as attendants to each Tīrthaṅkara In pictorial or sculptural representations a Yakṣa would usually be depicted on the right side of the Jain and a Yakṣiṇī on his left side. Thus, they also came to be called Śāsana-devatās, attendant spirits^[3] or guardian angels of the Jainas.

It would be difficult to believe that Yakṣas worship had suddenly originated in Jain pantheistic practices. According to Hindu sources, the Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī worship was very much prevalent in India even before the Āryans had settled here. They were generally spoken of a Puṇyajanas (good folk) and appeared to be countless. The Buddhists regarded them as 'fallen angels'.

Thus, the Jainas, like Hindus and Buddhists, admitted them into their pantheon of gods and goddesses and gave them a special place in their ritualistic order. In the beginning, they were not given that high position, but in the due course of time, during the post Gupta period, the prestige of Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs were gradually high and the followers of Jainism pay their respect to these Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs for having them provided protection to Tīrthaṅkaras. As a result of these, they are found around the images of Jinas as well as their individual images in many Jain temples. Usually they are found in pair around the idols of Jinas as male (Yakṣa) and female (Yakṣiṇī) guardian deities. In earlier periods, they were regarded mainly as devotees of Jina, and have supernatural powers. Over time, people started worshiping these deities as well. Some sections of Jains looked at Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs for the immediate returns, and gave them the places in their temples.

By about the eighth-ninth century under the indirect influence of esoterism that was flourishing in Buddhism and elsewhere, Jainism felt inclined in figuring separate entities of śāsanadevatās, shaking off their attachment to Jain figures through miniature representations at the sides or on the pedestals found equal favor with the artists throughout, in the all the parts of Indian subcontinent. Individual shrines were built for worship Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs.

The earliest Tīrthaṅkara image having Yakṣas-Yakṣiṇīs figures has been found from Akota which is dated in C. 550 C.E.^[4]. A separate Ambikā image belonging to the sixth century CE is also discovered from Akota hoard. The earliest Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī pair carved in Jain sculpture was Gomedha and Ambikā. Next comes the figure of Dharaṇendra and Padmāvatī, the Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī pair of Pāśvanātha. The Jain pantheon slowly developed around the twenty four Tīrthaṅkaras who constitute the principal objects of worship^[5].

Though Yakṣas and Yakṣiṇīs figures were accepted by the Jinas and they regularly worshipped them as guardian deities of twenty four Tīrthaṅkara images, however, according to some scholars these images not directly associated with Jainism. In this connection we can recall the comments of B. C. Bhattaclrarya, that ‘these demigods do not represent purely Jain elements’ in Jainism. ‘The names of some of the Yakṣas and śāsanadevatās betray unmistakable identity with those of Hindu deities while the symbols connected with them are also of those of the latter class’^[6].

Walther Schubring also held similar views on the subject. According to him, ‘an Arhat is far beyond the reach of human affairs. Being in the state of pure cognition and without both sentiment and will, he cannot bestow grace and favour unto those who appeal to him’. ‘Hindu influence,’ he adds, ‘seems to have been at work in placing at his [Arhat's or Jina's] side two adjutants, one male (Yakṣa) and one female (Yakṣiṇī)…and it is these two that take care of a devout suppliant. That on a large scale, Hindu mythology was adopted by the Jains and brought in accord with their own principles is a fact known too well to be treated here in detail’^[7].

In the present study, it is observed that though the depiction of Yakṣa-Yakṣiṇī couple in association with the Tīrthaṅkara images is a common style however, this style not frequently accepted by the artisan of this area. Only two Tīrthaṅkara images i.e. Ṛṣabhanātha image from Sitalpur and Punchra, are reported from the present study area where we can notice the depiction of Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī couple at the both the ends of the pedestal. However, in some cases only Yakṣiṇī images is engraved in the center of the pedestal. Whereas in Pārśvanātha images from the study area Dharaṇendra and Padmāvati i.e. the Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī of the Tīrthaṅkara are most of the time depicted as protector of the Jina and also in depicted as nāga couple with their inter-coiled tails springs gracefully almost rhythmically from the centre projection of the pedestal just below the feet of the Jina. Yakṣiṇī Ambikā was very popular in the present study area and a good number of images of Yakṣiṇī Ambikā were documented and described in the forgoing pages.

A brief list along with pictorial view of the twenty four Jain Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī are given below:

Iconographic details of twenty four Yakṣas:

Sl. No.	Name of the Yakṣas	Vehicle	Total Hands	Left Hand Attributes	Right Hand Attributes	Colour
1	Gomukha	Bull or Elephant	4	Varada mudrā and Rosary	Pāśa and Paraśu	Golden
2	Mahāyakṣa	Elephant	8	Disc, trident, Goad, lotus	Sword, staff, axe, and Varada mudrā	Dark
3	Trimukha	Peacock	6	Disc, Sword, Śṛṇi (Goad)	Staff, trident and dagger	Dark
4	Yakṣeśvara (Dig.) Nāyaka (Śvt.)	Elephant	4	Bow, Shield	Sword	Black
5	Tumburu	Garuda	4	Snake and Snake	Fruit and Varada mudrā	White
6	Kusuma	Antelope	4	Lance and Varada mudrā	Shield, abhaya-mudrā	Nila
7	Varanandin (Dig.) Mātaṅga(Śvt.)	Lion	4	Staff and spear	Swastika and flag	Dark
8	Vijaya	Swan	4	Fruit and rosary	Axe and Varada mudrā	Green
9	Ajita	Toroise	4	Sakti and Varada mudrā	Fruit and rosary	White
10	Brahmā	A chariot carried by black hogs	6	Bow, daṇḍa and kheṭaka	Arrow, sword, Varada mudrā,	White
11	Yakṣeta	Bull	4	Trident, Staff	Rosary, fruit	White
12	Kumāra	Swan	4	Bow and mongoose	Club, arrow	White
13	Caturmukha (Dig.) Ṣaṇmukha (Śvt.)	Peacock	12	Mongoose, disc, bow, shield, cloth and abhayamudrā	Fruit, disc, arrow, sword, noose and a rosary	White
14	Pātāla	Dolphin	6	Mongoose, shield and a rosary	Lotus, sword and noose	Red
15	Kinnara	Tortoise	6	Mongoose, lotus and a rosary	Club, citron and varada-mudrā	Red
16	Kiṃpuraṣa (Dig.) Garuḍa (Śvt.)	Boar	4	Mongoose and rosary	Citron and lotus	Black
17	Gandharva	Swan	4	Citron and a goad	Noose and varada-mudrā	Dark
18	Khendra (Dig.) Yakṣpāvatī (Śvt.)	Sankha	12	Mongoose, bow, shield, trident, goad, and a rosary	Citron, arrow, sword, hammer, noose and abhaya-mudrā	Blue
19	Kubera	Elephant	8	Citron, spear, club and a rosary	Bow, trident, axe and abhaya-mudrā	Rainbow
20	Varuṇa	Bull	8	Mongoose, a rosary, a bow and axe	Citron, a club arrow and a spear	White
21	Bhṛkuṭī	Bull	8	Mongoose, axe, thunderbolt and a rosary	Citron, a spear, a hammer and abhaya-mudrā	Gold
22	Gomedha	Man	6	Mongoose, trident and spear	Citron, axe and disc	Dark
23	Dharaṇendra	Tortoise	4	Snake and mongoose	Citron and Snake	Dark
24	Mātaṅga	Elephant	2	Mongoose	Citron	Black

Iconographic details of twenty four Yakṣiṇīs:

Sl. No.	Name of the Yakṣiṇīs	Vehicle	Total Hands	Left Hand Attributes	Right Hand Attributes	Colour
1	Cakreśvarī	Garuḍa	8	Bow, thunderbolt, disc and goad.	Varada-mudrā, arrow, disc and noose	Golden
2	Ajitabalā or Rohiṇī	Lohāsana (iron seat)	4	Varada-mudrā and abhaya-mudrā	Citron and a goad	Golden
3	Duritārī or Prajñapti	Ram	4	Fruit and abhaya-mudrā	Rosary and varada-mudrā	-
4	Kālikā or Vajra- Śṛṃkhalā	Swan	4	Snake and a goad	Noose and varada-mudrā	Dark
5	Puruṣadatta or Mahākālī	Lotus seat	4	Citron and a goad	Noose and varada-mudrā	Golden
6	Acyutā or Śyāmā Manovegā	Man or Horse	4	Bow and abhaya-mudrā	Noose and varada-mudrā	-
7	Śāntā or Kālī	Elephant or Bull	4	Trident and abhaya-mudrā	Rosary and varada-mudrā	Gold
8	Jvālāmālinī or Bhṛkuṭī	Cat	4	Axe and Shield	Sword, hammer	Yellow
9	Sutārā or Mahākālī	Bull	4	Pitcher and goad	Rosary and varada-mudrā	White
10	Aśokā or Mānavī	Cloud	4	Fruit and goad	Noose and varada-mudrā	Green
11	Gaurī or Mānavī	Lion	4	Thunderbolt and goad	Hammer and varada-mudrā	-
12	Caṇḍā or Gāndhāri	Horse	4	Club and flower	Spear and varada-mudrā	Dark
13	Viditā or Vairoṭi	Lotus seat	4	Snake and bow	Arrow and noose	Yellow
14	Aṃkuśā or Anantamatī	Lotus seat	4	Shield and goad	Sword and noose	-
15	Kandarpā or Mānasī	Fish	4	Lotus and varada-mudrā	Goad and blue Lotus	-
16	Mahāmānasī or Nirvāṇī	Lotus seat	4	Water jar and blue lotus	Book and blue lotus	-
17	Vijayā or Balā	Peacock	4	Round club and lotus	Trident and citron	-
18	Tārā or Dhāraṇī	Lotus seat	4	Red lotus and rosary	Citron and blue lotus	Blue
19	Aparājitā or Vairoṭi	Lotus seat	4	Citron and rosary	Rosary and varada-mudrā	Black
20	Bahurūpiṇī or Naradattā	Lotus seat	4	Citron and trident	Rosary and varada-mudrā	-
21	Cāmuṇḍā or Gāndhāri	Swan	4	Citron	Sword and varada-mudrā	-
22	Ambikā or Āmrā or Kusmāṇḍī	Lion	4	A boy and a goad	Bunch of mangoes and noose	Golden
23	Padmāvatī	Snake	4,6,8,24	Fruit and goad	Lotus and noose	Golden
24	Siddhāyikā	Lion	4	Citron and a lute	Book and abhaya-mudrā	Green

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Fergusson 1868: 244

[2]:

Coomaraswamy 1980/ I: 2

[3]:

Gupta 1972: 176

[4]:

Shah 1987: 213

[5]:

Sivaramamurti 1983: 25

[6]:

Bhattacharya 1974:65.

[7]:

Schubring 1962:16-17