Nature Spirits and Early Buddhism

Yaskhis in the Art of Buddhist Stupas

Sep 20, 2009

Nature spirits were incorporated into the art of early Buddhist monuments in India. This raises the question of why non-Buddhist divinities appear in Buddhist contexts.

The Yakshis, or "tree goddesses," figure prominently in the decoration of early Buddhist monuments in India, such as the railings at the Bharhut (1st cent. AD) and Sanchi (1st-2nd cent. AD) stupas. These important Buddhist reliquaries were meant to be pilgrimage sites, viewed by many people. The images that the patrons chose to portray must have had significance for Buddhism and for a wide audience.

Tree goddesses and other nature spirits were local divinities associated with particular places in the landscape, where they were venerated. This function was co-opted by early Buddhism to validate the sacred nature of the stupas. Yakshis and other “non-Buddhist” beings (like nagas, divine snake beings) had a myriad of meanings and associations that were exploited by the creators of the Buddhist stupa complexes to enhance the experience of those who visited the site.

Sacred Trees, Sacred Places – On the Nature of the Yakshi

The typical yakshi stands underneath a tree, bending the branches down with her right hand, and touching the trunk with her left foot. This pose has been interpreted as dohada, a Sanskrit term meaning that a woman can make a tree bloom, linking the idea of femininity to that of fertility.

Dohada was commonly performed by a woman embracing a tree, dancing or singing for it, and touching it with her heel. This description fits perfectly with depictions of yakshis with their arms around trees, touching the base of the trunk with their left heels. The fifth-century poet Kalidasa gave a description of such a ceremony in which the feet were painted and the ankles decorated with rings, just like many of the yakshis depicted on the stupa railings, and then the woman kicked the tree with her left foot.

One may surmise that dohada, or the concept of females associated with fertile trees, was a long-standing non-Buddhist tradition.

How can one know, then, that the figures represented on the Bharhut railing, for example, are yakshis and not mortal women? Fortunately, many of the reliefs are labeled with inscriptions. Likewise, they are accompanied by yakshas and nagas, both other types of divine beings.

The worship of individual trees is well attested in early times, and often sacred trees were demarcated by a fence or railing. Art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy notes the practice of making offerings to a particular tree at the entrance to villages for the resident yaksha or yakshi.

This act of propitiation to a divinity at an entrance point is something one should think about when examining the placement of yakshis and yakshas on stupa railings. They consistently appear in doorways. Were offerings ever left at these points, when Buddhist pilgrims entered the stupa complex? Unfortunately, such ephemeral aspects of ritual practice are lost to archaeologists.

Pagan Gods and Buddhist Practice

One might wonder, and many scholars have, what these popular nature deities have to do with Buddhism. A few possibilities have been noted — the attempt to appeal to a wider audience with the use of familiar religious elements, the implied subservience of the non-Buddhist deities to the Buddha — but their role goes beyond these Buddha-centric notions.

Though Coomaraswamy interprets the use of nature spirits on the gateways of the railings at Bharhut and Sanchi as “the essential victory of Buddhism,” one could argue the opposite, that this is the survival of pre-Buddhist religion in the wake of Buddhism. In a slightly different context, Coomaraswamy astutely makes the point that this is “an art about Buddhism, rather than Buddhist art."

Yakshis, yakshas and nagas had primary functions and associations in their non-Buddhist contexts which did not disappear with the inception of Buddhist reform. Divinities intimately associated with the sacred landscape of northern India appear on Buddhist monuments as legitimators and guardians of this new Buddhist imposition. They continue to mark the landscape, and guide worshipers to important places, but now in the service of the Buddha.

For example, though the nature divinities at Bharhut appear in a reverential pose — anjali mudra — they are also acting in their role as guardians of the four directions. The yakshis at Bharhut, and Sanchi, are often shown in dohada gesture, affectionately holding their trees.

The tree was a powerful Buddhist symbol, referencing the Buddha’s birth as well as his moment of enlightenment. Could it be that on some level the yakshis are meant to call to mind these elements of the story? The answer is probably yes, but because the railing is also adorned with numerous narrative representations of the Buddha’s life history, it seems unlikely that this was a major purpose for the yakshis’ incorporation. Certainly, however, they reinforce and continue the tradition of the sacred value of trees, their magical and creative powers.

Yakshis and other nature deities figure prominently on the railings of early Buddhist stupas. Rather than looking at these figures as remnants of pre-existing traditions subsumed into Buddhism — or worse, as mere decorative elements — one must examine their known associations and meanings to understand how and why these beings were incorporated into Buddhist monuments.

It is unlikely that these divinities immediately lost their previous associations with the productivity of nature, spiritual danger, sacred places and protection. Rather these meanings were used in creating conceptual links between old beliefs and new sacred places.

The copyright of the article Nature Spirits and Early Buddhism in Buddhist History is owned by Jennifer Walker. Permission to republish Nature Spirits and Early Buddhism in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.