NO. 6 YAKSAS — COOMARASWAMY 3I 



Vajrapani " who appears in the air on the occasion of the Abhinis- 

 kramana (Going Forth of the Buddha), and who, as remarked by 

 Foucher, " desormais le quittera pas plus que son ombre," becoming, 

 in fact, the Buddha's guardian angel/ This Vajrapani is not the same 

 as Sakka, who is independently present on the same occasion. 



This Vajrapani is constantly represented in Gandharan reliefs, and 

 sometimes in those of Mathura, illustrating scenes from the Life, sub- 

 sequent to the Going Forth, c. g., Foucher, loc. cit., figs. 191, 195, 197, 

 199. At his first appearance he is called a " benevolent Lord of the 

 Guhyakas, vajra in hand." Sometimes he holds a caxiri as well as a 

 vajra; moreover, this Vajrapani is generally represented as nude to 

 the waist and without any turban or crown, thus not as a great king, 

 as Indra should be. Moreover, this Vajrapani and Sakka are often 

 present together in one and the same scene (pi. 21, fig. 2). 



Perhaps the earliest appearance of a Vajrapani in a Buddha triad 

 may be the example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (HIIA, 

 fig. 85, left) ; and here we are in doubt whether to call him Yaksa or 

 Bodhisattva. It may be doubted whether the Bodhisattva Vajrapani 

 had been recognized so early. The only early independent image which 

 may be a representation of the Vajrapani, who is not Indra, is a frag- 

 ment from Mathura, illustrated in plate 15, figure 2.^ 



Thus there was actually a Yaksa Vajrapani, not identical with 

 Indra, but having an independent, pre-Buddhist cult ; this Yaksa be- 

 came the Buddha's guardian angel and attendant, and finally came to 

 be called the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, who sometimes appears in 

 Buddha triads, and is sometimes the object of separate worship 

 (HIIA, fig. 299). 



As regards Maitreya, the earliest of the Bodhisattvas to be desig- 

 nated as such, there is less to say. His cliaracteristic emblem is the 

 auirta (" nectar ") fiask, held in the left hand. It will perhaps occur 

 to the mind of the reader that there are both Bacchanalian Yaksas, 

 and Bachhanalian Nagas, who hold a cup or flask in their hands ; and 

 as in verbal imagery nothing is more characteristic of Buddhism 

 than the reinterpretation of an old phrase in the interests of present 

 edification (cf. Lalita Vistara, VII, 91, "with the Water of Life 

 (amrta) shalt thou heal the suffering due to the corruption of our 

 mortal nature"), so here, perhaps, we have a literal example of the 

 pouring of new wine into old bottles. 



'Foucher, L'Art greco-boiiddhique du Gandhara, I, 368: and cf. ibid., II, 

 pp. 48-64. 



' Vogel, The Mathura school of sculpture, A. S. I., A. R., 1909-10, p. 76 and 

 pi. XXVIIIb. 



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