Yaksha is the name of a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology. The feminine form of the word is yak?? or yak?i?? (P?li: yakkh? or yakkhin?).

In Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist mythology, the yak?a has a dual personality. On the one hand, a yak?a may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is a much darker version of the yak?a, which is a kind of cannibalistic ogre, ghost or demon that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rak?asas.

In K?lid?sa’s poem Meghad?ta, for instance, the yak?a narrator is a romantic figure, pining with love for his missing beloved. By contrast, in the didactic Hindu dialogue of the Yak?apra?n?? (“questions of the Yak?a”), a dangerous cannibalistic Yak?a, the tutelary spirit of a lake, threatens the life of the epic hero Yudhi??hira. The yak?as may have originally been the tutelary gods of forests and villages, and were later viewed as the steward deities of the earth and the wealth buried beneath.

In Indian art, male yak?as are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. Female yak?as, known as yak?i??s, are portrayed as beautiful young women with happy round faces and full breasts and hips.

In the state of Kerala, in South India, Yakshis are depicted as vampire enchantresses.