[2] Compared to the earlier yakshis at Bharhut, Roy C. Craven finds these "more vivacious and Amazonian in nature, and their smooth, inflated volumptuousness gives them buoyancy and life.

Writing of these and other contemporary Mathura yakshi figures from railings, Benjamin Rowland finds: a flamboyance and sensuality of expression surpassing anything known in the art of earlier periods.

In their provocative and frank display of the beauties and delights of the courtesan's art, these reliefs mark the culmination of a tendency already noted in the carvings at Sanchi and Bharhut.

The answer is that possibly they represent a pointed reference on the exterior of the sacred enclosure to the transitory life of pleasure, outside the peace of the world of Buddha; again, it may be that, like the mithunas of later Hindu art, they represent an allegory of the desirability of the soul's union with the divine in the forms of these beautiful dryads that so actively suggest the desirability of sexual union.

The yakshi in the half-pillar in Mathura holds a huge sword; possibly this relates to the various literary references to female royal bodyguards or harem guards.

[12] They are from the front completely naked apart from elaborate jewellery, but wear thin skirts, which most have gathered to one side, the hanging folds appearing on the flat background surface.

[14] The dwarfish male figures the yakshis stand on seem rather cheerful, and instead of representing the usual evil figures stood on by Indian deities, may in this case represent yaksha lovers who have offended their mistress in some way; there are many literary references to men appeasing women by submitting in this way.