NO. 6 . YAKSAS COOMARASWAMY 29 



guardians, and worshippers. But not only have both classes of figures 

 their own intrinsic and aesthetic interest (pi. i, fig. i, and pi. 8, for 

 example, are magnificent works), they are also of importance as fac- 

 tors in the development of Indian iconography generally. The force 

 of tradition is strong, and Indian art like other arts has always by 

 preference made use of existing types, rather than invented or 

 adopted wholly new ones. The case is exactly parallel to that of 

 religious development, in which the past always survives. We have 

 to do with a conscious sectarian adaptation, accompanied by an uncon- 

 scious, or at least unintentional, stylistic evolution. 



In early Indian art, so far as cult images are concerned, one icono- 

 graphic type stands out predominant, that is the standing figure with 

 the right hand raised, the left on the hip. Sometimes the right hand 

 holds a flower, or caurT, or weapon ; sometimes the left grasps the 

 robe, or holds a flask, but the position of the arms is constant. We are 

 here, of course, concerned only with two-armed images ; those with 

 four or more arms do not appear before the second century A. D., 

 when the fundamentals had already been established. Stylistically, the 

 type is massive and voluminous, and altogether plastically conceived, 

 not bounded by outlines ; the essential quality is one of energy, with- 

 out introspection or spiritual aspiration. 



Of this type are the early images of Yaksas, and Yaksis, whether 

 independent or attendant. And it is also this type which provided the 

 model for the cult images of other deities, such as Siva or Buddha, 

 when the necessities of Bhakti determined the appearance of all dei- 

 ties in visible forms. 



Making only a passing reference to the close formal relationship 

 recognizable between the oldest known Siva image, that of the Gudi- 

 mallam lihgam (pi. 17, fig. i), and the Yaksas of Bharhut and Saiici, 

 and to the facts that the Nyagrodha, Udambara, or Asvattha tree may 

 be identified with \'isnu, and that Siva, Saiiikara, Karttikeya, etc.. 

 are all Yaksas in the Mahamayuri list, I propose to speak here only 

 of the part played by the Yak.sa type in evolution of Buddhist types. 



In the case of the Buddha figure, as I have recently treated the sub- 

 ject at length in the Art Bulletin (Vol. IX, pt. 4), I shall only point 

 out the stylistic continuity presented in the series : Parkham image 

 (pi. I, fig. I ) ; one of the Yaksas from Patna (HIIA, fig. 67) ; Buddha 

 in the Lucknow Museum (HIIA, fig. 79) ; Bodhisattva in Philadelphia 

 (Art Bull., loc. cit., fig. 50) ; Friar Bala's image at Sarnath (pi. 17, 

 fig. 2) ; Gupta image in the Mathura Museum (HIIA, fig. 158). In 



