2-730-816 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Head of a Yaksha, c. 125 BC. Images of yakshas , often imposing in scale, were worshipped in shrines, usually under a special tree, in the hopes that they will grant prosperity and wealth. Many iconic yaksha figures grasp a bag of money. Some were thought to preside over pregnancy and childbirth and to be responsible either for a successful birth or miscarriage. Yakshas were an ambivalent, but widely venerated category of divinities, popular on a local level and not necessarily part of an organized religious system, such as Buddhism or Hinduism. Early Indian texts state that Mathura was famous for its large numbers of yakshas. The heavy round volumes of the face, earring, and turban are stylistic features of art from Mathura during this period.