Sculpture of a yaki (nature spirit) holding a sala branch. Mathura, India, Kushan Empire, 2nd century AD [1100×1215]

[Museum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/767760). This double-sided strut from a stupa gateway at Mathura is adorned on both faces with a tree spirit (vrksadevata), a bountiful female nature-spirit (yakshi) who grasps the flowering branch of a sala tree. Her pose invokes the power of nature; in other versions she kicks the trunk, causing the tree to flower and bear fruit. Yakshis embodied notions of feminine beauty and fertility in early India, and the prevalence of their cult is suggested by references in Vedic as well as early Jain and Buddhist sources, all of which name them as the presiding deities of specific locations. These yakshis belong to a relatively short-lived tradition of stupa gateway building.