Kubera on a YakshaBattle of Devas and Asuras
This battle has not been conclusively identified, although Roveda (pp.67-68) moots two possibilities: an attack by the devas against Andhaka, or an attack by Bali against the devas. The latter possibility seems less likely, because the devas lost that battle. Carved in the 12th century, the panel includes 21 large images of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon. The figure is usually identified as Kubera, the god of wealth, riding on a yaksha (nature-spirit). Vittorio Roveda's Sacred Angkor (pp.68,70) calls it Nirrti, the directional guardian of the Southwest, riding a either a rakshasa (demon) or a yaksha; Roveda's earlier book, Khmer Mythology (p.114), described it as Kubera on an asura. |