NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Yaksha

Yakṣha (Sanskrit यक्ष) or Yakkha (Pāli यक्ष) is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots.^[1] They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology.^[1] The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or yakṣiṇī (Pāli: yakkhī or yakkhinī).^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Yaksha may refer to: Yaksha, name of a broad class of nature-spirits in Hindu and Buddhist mythology Yaksha, Komi Republic, a settlement in the Komi Republic, Russia Yaksha, Kostroma Oblast, a settlement in Kostroma Oblast, Russia Category: ... Download high resolution version (886x597, 176 KB)Greek floral scroll, supported by Indian Yaksas, Amaravati, 3rd century CE. Tokyo National Art Museum. ... Download high resolution version (886x597, 176 KB)Greek floral scroll, supported by Indian Yaksas, Amaravati, 3rd century CE. Tokyo National Art Museum. ... Amaravati may refer to: Amaravati (capital), in Hinduism, (à°…à°®à°°à°¾à°µà°¤à°¿) is the capital of Svarga, a temporary paradise where the dead live. ... The Tokyo National Museum. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... PÄli is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... JAIN is an activity within the Java Community Process, developing APIs for the creation of telephony (voice and data) services. ... Buddhist mythology is a mythology within the Buddhism belief system. ...

General character

In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology, 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 a much darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of cannibalistic ogre, ghost or demon that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rakṣasas. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (941x1600, 1463 KB) Summary Mathura Yaksa. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (941x1600, 1463 KB) Summary Mathura Yaksa. ... , Mathura (Hindi: à¤®à¤¥à¥à¤°à¤¾, Urdu: Ù…ØªÚ¾Ø±Ø§) is a holy city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... by Sophie Anderson For other uses, see Fairy (disambiguation). ... A rakshasa (Sanskrit: à¤°à¤¾à¥‘à¤•à¥à¤·à¤¸à¤ƒ, ; alternately, raksasa or rakshas) is a demon or unrighteous spirit in Hinduism. ...

In Kālidāsa's poem Meghadūta, for instance, the yakṣa narrator is a romantic figure, pining with love for his missing beloved. By contrast, in the didactic Hindu dialogue of the Yakṣapraśnāḥ ("questions of the Yakṣa"), a dangerous cannibalistic Yakṣa, the tutelary spirit of a lake, threatens the life of the epic hero Yudhiṣṭhira. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... MeghadÅ«ta (literally cloud messenger) is a lyric poem written by KÄlidÄsa, considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. ... Hinduism (known as in modern Indian languages[1]) is a religious tradition[2] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira (Sanskrit: à¤¯à¥à¤§à¤¿à¤·à¥à¤ à¤¿à¤°, yudhiá¹£á¹hira) was the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, king of Hastinapura and Indraprastha, and World Emperor. ...

The yakṣas may have originally been the tutelary gods of forests and villages, and were later viewed as the steward deities of the earth and the wealth buried beneath. A tutelary spirit is a god, usually a minor god, who serves as the guardian or watcher over a particular site, person, or nation. ...

In Indian art, male yakṣas are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. Female yakṣas, known as yakṣiṇīs, are portrayed as beautiful young women with happy round faces and full breasts and hips. Men hur kommer man in i berget, frÃ¥gade tomtepojken (But how do I get into the mountain? the young dwarf asked. ... This sculpture of a yakshini comes from a pillar of the railings of a stupa in Mathura. ...

In the state of Kerala, in South India, Yakshis are depicted as vampire enchantresses.

Yakshas in Mahabharata

The banks of river Narmada is described as the birth place of yaksha king Kubera (Vaisravana), where his father Visravas, who was a sage, lived. It is also a territory of Gandharvas. (Mahabharata: 3,89). Gokarna, Karnataka is also mentioned as a place of yakshas and pisachas, and kinnaras and the great nagas, and siddhas and charanas and gandharvas. (3,85) The Narmada River in central India The Narmada (Gujarati: àª¨àª°à«àª®àª¦àª¾ Devanagri: à¤¨à¤°à¥à¤®à¤¦à¤¾ or Nerbudda (Narbada) is a river in central India in Indian subcontinent. ... Kubera (also Kuvera or Kuber) is the god of wealth and the lord of Uttaradisha in Hindu mythology. ... Gandharvas were one among the group of Exotic Tribes Of Ancient India, a class of demi-gods, well versed in music and art. ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... Gokarna meaning Cows Ear is a small town situated in the North Kannada district of the coastal Karnataka state, India. ... , KarnÄtakÄ (Kannada: à²•à²¨à²¾à³¯à²Ÿà²•) (IPA: ) is one of the four southern states of India. ... Pisachas are a group of mountain dwellers lived in the mountains around the Kasmir Valley. ... Kinnaras were a group of gods, demons and demi-gods, mentioned along with others like Devas (including Rudras, Maruts, Vasus and Adityas), Asuras (including Daityas, Danavas and Kalakeyas), Pisachas, Gandharvas, Kimpurushas, Vanaras, Suparnas, Rakshasas, Bhutas and Yakshas. ... Nagas were a group of people spread throughout India during the period of the epic Mahabharata. ... The Sanskrit word Siddha is derived from the word Siddhi meaning Perfection, referring to physical as well as spiritual perfection or enlightenment. ... // In Hinduism, the Gandharvas (Sanskrit: à¤—à¤‚à¤§à¤°à¥à¤µ, gandharva) are male nature spirits, husbands of the Apsarases. ...

Yakshas were a group of gods, demons and demi gods, mentioned along with others like like Devas (including Rudras, Maruts, Vasus and Adityas), Asuras (including Daityas, Danavas and Kalakeyas), Pisachas, Gandharvas, Kimpurushas, Vanaras, Suparnas, Kinnaras, Bhutas etc. ...

Yakṣas in Buddhism

In Buddhist countries yakṣas are known under the following names: Chinese Pinyin: 夜叉 yè chā, Japanese: Yasha (夜叉^?), Burmese: ba-lu). Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

In Buddhist mythology, the yakṣa are the attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, the Guardian of the Northern Quarter, a beneficent god who protects the righteous. The term also refers to the twelve heavenly generals who guard the Buddha of Medicine (Sanskrit: Bhaiṣajya; Tibetan: sangs-rgyas sman-bla; Chinese and Japanese: 藥師如來, 薬師如来) Buddhist mythology is a mythology within the Buddhism belief system. ... painting of Tamonten, the Guardian of the North (one of the Four Guardian Kings). ... Bhaisajyaguru (薬師 Ch. ... The Tibetan language is spoken primarily by the Tibetan people who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, as well as by large number of Tibetan refugees all over the world. ...

Yaksha in Jainism

23rd Jain tirthankar Parshvanath is always represented with the hood of a snake shading his head. The Yaksha Dharanendra and the Yakshi Padmavati are often shown flanking him. The 24 Jinas carved on a rock in Ginjee, Tamilnadu In Jainism, a Tirthankar (Fordmaker) (also Tirthankara or Jina) is a human who by adopting asceticism achieves enlightenment (perfect knowledge), thus becoming a Jina (one who has conquered his inner enemies - anger, pride, deceit, desire etc. ... A 1097 representation of Parshvanath from Smithsonian Instituteâ€™s collections In Jainism, Parshva (877-777 B.C.E.), (more correctly Parshvanatha; occasionally spelled Parswanath) was the twenty-third Tirthankara. ... The goddess Padmavati is a popular Jain goddess. ...

Notes

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 196th day of the year (197th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

Categories: Articles lacking in-text citations | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since July 2007 | Buddhist deities, bodhisattvas, and demons | Non-human races in Hindu mythology | Tutelary Hinduism (known as in modern Indian languages[1]) is a religious tradition[2] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... The ancient Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, laid the cornerstone for much of Hindu religion. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Within Hinduism a large number of personalities, or forms, are worshipped as deities or murtis. ... Goddesses are an integral part of Hinduism, and the worship of goddesses is a significant aspect of Hindu religion. ... In Hinduism, Saraswati (Sanskrit ) is one of the goddesses, the other two being Lakshmi and Durga, that form the female counterpart of the Trimurti. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... In the Hindu religion, SatÄ« (Devanagari: à¤¸à¤¤à¥€, the feminine of sat true) or DÄkshÄyani is the Goddess of marital felicity and longevity; she is worshipped particularly by ladies to seek the long life of their husbands. ... For the Harry Potter character, see Parvati Patil. ... In Hinduism, Durga (Sanskrit: , Bengali: ) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess. ... Lakshmi is a common aspect of Shakti Shakti meaning force, power or energy is the Hindu concept or personification of Gods female aspect, sometimes referred to as The Divine Mother. Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power. ... This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Gayatri (Sanskrit: , IAST: ) is the feminine form of gÄyatra, a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn. ... Lord Rama (center) with wife Sita, brother Lakshmana and devotee Hanuman. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In Hinduism, the ten mahavidyas (Great Wisdoms) are aspects of Devi. ... Within Hinduism a large number of personalities, or forms, are worshipped as deities or murtis. ... It has been suggested that Deva (tribe) be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Vishnu (IAST , Devanagari ), (honorific: Sri Vishnu) also known as Narayana is the Supreme Being or Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavas and a manifestation of Brahman in the Advaita or Smarta traditions. ... For other uses, see Siva (disambiguation). ... Rama ( in IAST, in DevanÄgarÄ«) or Ramachandra is a legendary or historical king of ancient India. ... This article is about the Hindu deity. ... For other uses, see Ganesha (disambiguation). ... Murugan (also Murugan) (Tamil: ) is a popular Hindu deity amongst Tamil Hindus. ... Hanuman (Sanskrit: ; nominative singular ), known also as Anjaneya, is one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana. ... Indra (Sanskrit: à¤‡à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥à¤° or à¤‡à¤‚à¤¦à¥à¤°, indra) is the god of weather and war, and lord of Svargaloka in Hinduism. ... In Hinduism, Surya (Devanagari: à¤¸à¥‚à¤°à¥à¤¯, sÅ«rya) is the chief solar deity,one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wife Aditi[1] ,in Nordics Tyr he is said to be the son of Dyaus Pitar. ... Veda redirects here. ... The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upanişad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... Purana (Sanskrit: , meaning tales of ancient times) is the name of an ancient Indian genre (or a group of related genres) of Hindu or Jain literature (as distinct from oral tradition). ... For the television series by Ramanand Sagar, see Ramayan (TV series). ... For the film by Peter Brook, see The Mahabharata (1989 film). ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ...

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