Yaksha: Encyclopedia - Yaksha

Yaksha

Yaksha (Sanskrit, also Yaksa; Pāli: Yakkha, Chinese and Japanese: 夜叉, Pin Yin ye4 cha1, J. yasha) originally from Hindu mythology, a class of nature ghosts or demons. Also: demigod attendants of Kuvera Also: twelve heavenly generals who guard the Buddha of Medicine (Sanskrit: Bhaisajya; Tibetan: sangs-rgyas sman-bla; Chinese and Japanese: 藥師如來)

The yakshas were originally the tutelary gods of forests and villages. Later, however, they came to be viewed as the steward deities of the earth and the wealth buried beneath. In Buddhist mythology, the yaksha are the servants of Bishamonten, the Guardian of the Northern Quarter, a beneficent god who protects the righteous souls devoted to the Lotus Sutra. Bishamonten may be identical to the Hindu god Vaisravana. Male yakshas are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. Female yakshas, known as yakshinis, are portrayed as beautiful young women with blithe, round faces and full breasts and hips.

Though their kindred, the ghoulish rakshasas, delight in wreaking misfortune and death on mankind, yakshas are generally beneficent. Some tales of yakshas, however, lend them an air of mischief.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Yaksha", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki