NO. 6 YAKSAS COOMARASWAMY 25 



robusta is liked by all deities ; but sallaklya incense is disliked by the 

 gods and suitable only for the Daityas. i\Iilk and flowers should be 

 offered to the gods, who take only the perfume of the latter. The 

 appearance of flowers is acceptable to Raksasas, but the Nagas use 

 them as food. On the other hand the food of Yaksas and Raksasas 

 is meat and spirituous liquor (Hopkins, ibid., pp. 68, 69). Here 

 again, as is generally the case, the Yaksas are given a spiritual rank 

 intermediate between that of the gods (Devas) and the lower spirits. 



Manu (XI, 96) says that meat and intoxicating drinks are the food 

 of Yaksas, Raksasas and Pisacas. In the MeghadiJta, H, 3, Yaksas 

 are described as drinking wine produced from kalpa-tvees, in the 

 company of fair damsels : cf . the Bacchanalian Yaksa groups of 

 Mathura (pi. 14, fig. i) and those of the ceiling of Cave I at Ajanta. 



The prospector, before digging for treasure in Northern India, 

 makes offerings of meat, sesamum seeds, and flowers, to Kuvera, 

 Manibhadra, etc. {Mahdbhurafa, 14, 65, 11). 



In connection with a YaksinT shrine at Rajagrha it is mentioned in 

 the Mahdbhdrata (3, 84, 105) that there was a daily service. 



A passage omitted from the description of the Punnabhadde ceiya 

 cited above informs us that this sanctuary 



was meet for the praj'crs and supplications of many prayerful folk ; meet for 

 worship, celebration, veneration, offering, largesse, and respect ; meet to be 

 waited upon with courtesy as a blessed and auspicious sanctuary of the gods, 

 divine, truth-telling, truth-counselling (or, surely satisfying the desires of its 

 worshippers). Miracles were manifested therein, and it received shares in thou- 

 sands of sacrifices. Many people came to worship the sanctuary Punnabhadde. 



In the Antagada Dasdo, loc. cit., pp. 86 ff., the garland-maker 

 Ajjunae every day, before practising his trade, repairs to the temple 

 (jakkhayayanc) of the Yakkha Moggara-pani, with flower-offerings 

 of great worth, falls upon his knees, and does reverence. 



Harinegamesi (see note on p. 12) is represented in the .Infagada 

 Dasdo (loc. cit.. p. 67) as receiving pnjd: 



Sulasa was from childhood a worshipper of tlie god Harinegamesi. She 

 caused to be made an image of H., and every morning she bathed .... per- 

 formed the customary lustratory rites, and w^ith a still moist robe made flower- 

 offerings of great worth, fell upon her knees, did reverence .... By the lady 

 Sulasa's devotion, veneration, and obedience the god H. was won over. So in 

 compassion for the lady Sulasa the god H., made both her and thee to become 

 pregnant at the same time.' 



' Here " thee " refers to Queen Devai, whose living children are given to 

 Sulasa. Later, when Queen Devai longs for children of her own, her husband 

 Kanhe (Krsna) Vasudeva worships Harinegamesi; the latter's throne quakes, 

 he looks down, and sees Vasudeva whose mind is fixed on him. He appears 

 to Vasudeva, " clad in robes of the five colours bearing hells," and promises 

 that Devai shall bear a child. 



