258 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [July, 1914. 



there is no other means of establishing the identity. The rain- 

 god and the fire-god have been mentioned once only. 



Coming to the world of spirits we have a host of them, 



both good and evil. The evil spirits are 



goodTnde^r ; c *Hed Yakkhaa, while the others go by 



the name of Deva or Devata. The lord 

 of the evil spirits is Vessavana Kuvera. They have to attend 

 on him by turns and they have to live on whatever is enjoined 

 on them by (the order of) Kuvera. They are supposed to live 

 principally on human flesh, but occasionally we find that when 

 they are instructed by the Bodhisattva, they abstain from the 

 practice and some of them continue to be worshipped by the 

 villagers like good spirits. In one place l we find that a Yakkha 

 obtained, in return for the service rendered to Vessavana, the 

 privilege of eating any men entering a certain house, provided 

 they failed to utter the word " jiva " (live) immediately after one 

 had sneezed, and likewise those who would not say u Patijiva," 

 i.e. "live on your turn," being told" Jiva" after sneezing. 

 The practice of saying "Jiva " after sneezing is still prevalent, 

 but the significance of it cannot be clearly given. In another 

 place * a Yakkhini used to devour the babes of a king while 

 they were still in the lying-in room, and to prevent her from 

 doing so the mother was placed in an iron room and palm 

 leaves were placed there. Fortunately that time the Yakkhini 

 died while serving her turn of service to Kuvera and so the 

 child was safe. There was a belief that the Yakkhas are afraid 

 of palm leaves and iron. Even in these times on the sixth day 

 of childbirth a palm leaf is placed in the confinement room, and 

 it is seldom left alone without a piece of iron on the bed. Nowa- 

 days however people believe that on the sixth day the Ordainer 

 of destiny comes to write the fortune of the child. In another 

 place we find a Yakkhini detected in the act of stealing a child 

 for the purpose of eating, but at last desisted, being influenced 

 by the teachings of a wise man. In many places Yakkhinis have 

 been described, disguised as beautiful women, beguiling ship- 

 wrecked merchants as well as men passing through forests. 



Turning now to the good spirits, who used to be called 



The good spirits Deva8 OV Devatd > we find thafc their ^^l 



F is very large. When the Buddha preached 



the Mahasamaya Suttanta the gods were present in myriads, 



also at the time of his parinirvana. They are not spirits of 



Three classes of heaven. They are inhabitants of this 



spirits. earth. They generally form three classes, 



viz., (1) spirits dwelling in towns, houses, 

 etc.; (2) spirits dwelling in trees; (3) spirits of rivers, the 

 sea, etc. 



1 Jataka, Vol. II, p. 15. * Jataka 



