Vaiśravaṇa

deity sky South Asian folklore single tradition · 11

Stub entity — referenced by another entity from source #412 but not yet directly extracted from its own source.

↻ synthesized from 11 sources

When

First attested
0 CE
Attested period
0 – 2020
Historical notes
Found in the earliest Buddhist sources and shared by Mahayana and Theravada traditions.

Relationships

manifests as
Kubera
allied with
Guanyin
serves
Ratnasambhava
manifested by
Kubera, Vessavaṇa
child of
Vishrava

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“Vaiśravaṇa (P: Vessavaṇa) - Guardian of the North. Leader of the yakṣas and rākṣasas.”

#22085 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“These forms encompass a Buddha, a pratyekabuddha, an arhat, King Brahma, Sakra (Indra), Isvara, Mahesvara (Shiva), a great heavenly general, Vaiśravaṇa, a Cakravartin, a minor king, an elder, a householder, a chief minister, a Brahmin, a bhikkhu, a bhikkhunī, a Upāsaka, a Upāsikā, a wife, a young boy, a young girl, a deva, a nāga, a yaksha, a gandharva, an asura, a garuḍa, a kinnara, a Mahoraga, a human, a non-human and Vajrapani.”

#29193 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“The Mahāyāna tradition recognizes Āṭavaka as a Wisdom King and one of the Eight Great Yakṣa Generals of Vaiśravaṇa. A common title is Āṭavaka Mahāyakṣasenāpati (Sanskrit; lit. “Great Yakṣa General Āṭavaka”).”

#36027 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Pañcika – Commander-in-chief of Vaiśravaṇa's army and others. Consort of Hārītī ☸”

#36174 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“According to Buddhist mythology, Vaiśravaṇa is the chief of these beings, and long ago dwelt together with them in the realm of darkness. When Vaiśravaṇa converted to Buddhism, the many demonic spirits under his jurisdiction likewise assumed the role of devotees to the Buddha.”

#36254 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001