Yakshi (Tree Spirit)


In Buddhism and Hinduism, yakshis are feminine Indian deities who possess the power of fertility and prosperity. This Yakshi is shown as a curvy, perfect beauty who wraps herself around a tree. They are frequently shown nude wearing anklets, bangles, and necklaces on their upper bodies. They are typically portrayed near to or clinging onto trees because of their connections to the natural world. They are closely related to the ashoka tree. One of the repeating themes in Indian art is a yakshini with her foot on the trunk and her hands grasping the branch of a ashoka or, less frequently, another tree with flowers or fruits. These figures are usually encountered as gatekeepers in ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples.




Resources

Resource 1

A nature Gooddess

This sculpture is titled as Nature Godddess. These small deities were possibly in use for personal devotion. The figure has broad hips and extended arms. Mold wasutilized to create the rosettes in her hair. The beautiful floral headpiece and broad hips convey a devotion to fertility and abundance. This piece possibly belongs to Mathura school of art, started in 2nd BCE in Mathura, India.  

Resource 2

Tree huggers

In the 1970s, women in India launched the Chipko movement to save trees in resistance to British authority. The Forest Department initially refused the Sangh's yearly request for ten ash trees for its agricultural tool workshop, and in its place, the Simon Company, a far-off maker of sporting goods with a location in Allahabad, was given a contract for 300 trees to make tennis racquets. The movement quickly spread to other districts in the region, and within ten years it had reached every mountain range in Uttarakhand. The movement assisted larger concerns being raised about the ecological and economic exploitation of the area

Resource 3

The Dryads

The video shows dyads, tree spirits of Greek mythology. Tree spirits are not unique to Hinduism. Many belief systems have their own tree spirits. Originally, dryads were thought to be the specialized nymphs of oak trees, but the term has come to refer to all kinds of tree nymphs. Their role is to protect the trees. Since a tree dies the dyad associated with the tree also dies, they punish the ones who hurt them.They have been passed on in popular culture many times, like the book The Chronicles of Narnia. 

The Dryads: The Enchanting Nymphs of the Forests of Greek Mythology - See U in History