yakkhan.

1837 G. Turnour tr. Maháwanso i. 2 It was known..by the vanquisher, that in Lanká filled by yakkhos, and therefore the settlement of the yakkhos,—that in the said Lanká would..be the place where his religion would be glorified.

1837 G. Turnour in tr. Maháwanso Gloss. 30 The worshippers of these demons are also called ‘yakkhos’ and ‘yakkhinís’.

1892 R. S. Copleston Buddhism xxii. 311 The purpose of this visit [to Ceylon] was to clear the island of the ‘yakkhas’ (demons; wood, forest, or savage beings), who were not likely to make good followers of the Buddha.

1913 L. S. Woolf Village in Jungle ii. 27 The veddas are the aborigines of Ceylon, and are or were hunters. They are often identified with Yakkas or devils.

1921 C. Eliot Hinduism & Buddhism I. vi. 103 Of the Devas or chiefs of the Yakkhas..only a few are known to Brahmanic works.

1982 C. de Silva Winds of Sinhala 4 Prince Vijaya..then discovered that he was in Lanka,..a fertile country inhabited by Yakka and Naga tribes.

1987 Spectator 5 Sept. 10/3 In the Dipavamsa, the Lord Buddha appears in the sky over the assembled yakkhas (aborigines—though the chronicles do not accord them human status).