NO. 6 YAKS AS — COOMARASWAMY 1 5 



tants of Vaisali appears, I will make the bell sound until he is arrested or has 

 taken his departure." ' So they caused a Yak?a statue to be prepared and hung 

 a bell round its neck. Then they set it up in the gatehouse, provided with obla- 

 tions and garlands along with dance and song and to the sound of musical 

 instruments. 



The same Tibetan sources show that the Sakyas honored a Yaksa 

 by name Sakyavardhana ("He who prospers the Sakyas") as a 

 tutelary deity. This tradition is recorded in the Tibetan Dulva f 

 we need not believe in the miracle, but there is every possibility that 

 there was a tutelary Yaksa of the Sakya clan, and tliat the Sakyas 

 presented their children in the temple. Moreover, the Presentation is 

 four times illustrated at Amaravati (pi. 20, also Fergusson, Tree and 

 Serpent Worship, pis. LXIX, XCI, 4, and Burgess, Buddhist stiipas 

 . . . ., frontispiece, detail left of center, and pi. XXXII, 2). Accord- 

 ing to the text, 



It was the habit of the Sakyas to make all new-born children bow down at 

 the feet of a statue of the Yaksa Sakyavardhana {Sakya-sphel or spcl) ; so 

 the king took the young child (the Bodhisattva, Siddhartha) to the temple, but 

 the Yaksa bowed down at his feet .... and when the king saw the Yaksa bow 

 down at the child's feet he exclaimed, " He is the god of gods," and the child 

 was therefore called Devatideva. 



The same tradition is found in the Chinese Abhiniskramana Sutra 

 (the late sixth century Chinese version by Jfianakuti),' but the temple 

 is called a Deva temple, and the Deva's name is Tsang Chang, for 

 which the equivalent DIrghavardana is suggested. The story is much 

 more elaborated in the Lalita Vistara, Ch. VIII, where the temple is 

 full of statues of gods (Siva, Siirya), and all bow down to the child ; 

 this is obviously a later development. 



In the Jaina Uttaradhyayana Sutra, Ch. Ill, 14-18, it is stated 

 as a general rule that Yaksas are reborn as men when their stock of 

 merit (acquired, of course, in a previous life on earth) is exhausted. 



Not only human beings, but even animals may be reborn as tutelary 

 Yaksas. The following story of the Jaina saint JIvaka is related in the 

 Tamil classic, the Jwaka-cintamani : * Jivaka rescues a drowning dog, 



* As regards the bell ; it should be observed that the voice of Devas and 

 Yaksas is often said to be like the sound of a golden bell (e.g., Samyutta 

 Ntkaya, Yakkha Suttas, §8 (Commentary), and Sakka Suttas, II, § 10 (Com- 

 mentary). For Yaksas with bells see plate 12, figure 2; plate 13, figure 3; and 

 plate 18. For a very similar story from the Divyavadana see Appendix. 



^ Rockhill, W. W., Life of the Buddha from Tibetan works in the Bkah-Hgyur 

 and Bstan-Hgyur, p. 17; Csoma de Koros, Analysis of the Kah-Gyiir, Asiatic 

 Researches, XX, p. 289. Cf. Watters, On Yuan Chwang, II, 13, 14, with some 

 other references, including Divyavadana. 



^ Beal, S., Romantic history of Buddha, p. 52. 



* Vinson, J., Lcgendes bouddhistes et djainas, Paris, 1900, t. 2, p. 43. 



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