Yakshi

Image Information: Sandstone figure of Shalabhanjika Yakshi. From stupa 1 at Sanchi, Central India. 1st century AD. Website: British Museum Compass. From the website: "Female tree spirits called yakshis. In an ancient (pre-Buddhist) Indian fertility rite, beautiful young maidens were said to usher in spring by kicking a tree trunk while breaking off a branch, so as to arouse it into blossoming. The type of tree spirit shown here, known as Shalabhanjika Yakshi (literally, the yakshi who is breaking a branch of the Shala tree) echoes this tradition."

Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: October 16, 2007 12:22 PM