But though on the whole the Atharva is inclined to banish the black spectres of popular demonology with the help of luminous Aryan gods, still we find invoked in it and in its subsidiary literature a multitude of spirits, good and bad, known by little except their names which, however, often suffice to indicate their functions.  Such are Asapati (Lord of the region), Kshetrapati (Lord of the field), both invoked in ceremonies for destroying locusts and other noxious insects, Sakambhara and Apva, deities of diarrhoea, and Arati, the goddess of avarice and grudge.  In one hymn[244] the poet invokes, together with many Vedic deities, all manner of nature spirits, demons, animals, healing plants, seasons and ghosts.  A similar collection of queer and vague personalities is found in the popular pantheon of China to-day[245].

Thirdly, various deities who are evidently considered to be well known, play some part in the Pali Pitakas.  Those most frequently mentioned are Mahabrahma or Brahma Sahampati, and Sakka or Indra, but not quite the same as the Vedic Indra and less in need of libations of Soma.  In two curious suttas[246] deputations of deities, clearly intended to include all the important gods worshipped at the time, are represented as visiting the Buddha.  In both lists a prominent position is given to the Four Great Kings, or Ruling Spirits of the Four Quarters, accompanied by retinues called Gandhabbas, Kumbhandas, Nagas, and Yakkhas respectively, and similar to the Nats of Burma.  The Gandhabbas (or Gandharvas) are heavenly musicians and mostly benevolent, but are mentioned in the Brahmanas as taking possession of women who then deliver oracles.  The Nagas are serpents, sometimes represented as cobras with one or more heads and sometimes as half human:  sometimes they live in palaces under the water or in the depths of the earth and sometimes they are the tutelary deities of trees.  Serpent worship has undoubtedly been prevalent in India in all ages:  indications of it are found in the earliest Buddhist sculptures and it still survives[247].  The Yakkhas (or Yakshas) though hardly demons (as their name is often rendered) are mostly ill disposed to the human race, sometimes man-eaters and often of unedifying conduct.  The Mahasamaya-sutta also mentions mountain spirits from the Himalaya, Satagiri, and Mount Vepulla.  Of the Devas or chiefs of the Yakkhas in this catalogue only a few are known to Brahmanic works, such as Soma, Varuna, Venhu (Vishnu), the Yamas, Pajapati, Inda (Indra), Sanan-kumara.  All these deities are enumerated together with little regard to the positions they occupy in the sacerdotal pantheon.  The enquirer finds a similar difficulty when he tries in the twentieth century to identify rural deities, or even the tutelaries of many great temples, with any personages recognized by the canonical literature.