In chapter twenty-six of the Lotus Sūtra various beings offer protective incantations called dhārāṇi to safeguard the practitioners of the Lotus Sūtra. One set of these is offered by a formerly malevolent spirit named Hārītī (J. Kishimojin) and her ten daughters and other children and attendants. Hārītī, whose name means “stealer of children,” is a female yakṣas, or yaksini, who originally came from the town of Rājagṛha. The yakṣas are one of the eight kinds of supernatural beings who are said to revere and protect the Dharma. Originally the yakṣas appeared as the spirits of the trees and forests and even villages; but they had a fierce side as well, and in their more demonic aspect came to be called rākṣasas. According to legend, Hārītī was obsessed with eating the children of Rājagṛha. Neither King Bimbisāra nor even the devas were able to stop her, so in desperation the townspeople turned to Śākyamuni Buddha. The Buddha visited her home while she was away and used his supernatural powers to hide her youngest son under his alms bowl. When Hārītī returned and could not find her son she was distraught and finally she herself sought out the Buddha. The Buddha then pointed out to her that if she felt so badly about missing even one child out of 500, she should consider how badly the parents of Rājagṛha must feel when she takes away their children when they have so few to begin with. Hearing this, Hārītī felt remorse and compassion for those she had harmed. She repented of her actions; took refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; took the five precepts; and vowed to protect the people of Rājagṛha. The Buddha then restored her youngest son to her. In return the Buddha had his monks, from that time on, make a symbolic offer of their food to the hungry ghosts. Hārītī came to be considered a protector of children and women giving birth as well as a protector of the Dharma, and her gentle image as a “giver of children” would sometimes cause her to be confused with Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. As can be seen in chapter twenty-six of the Lotus Sūtra, her fierce nature showed itself once more in her vow to protect the practitioners of the sūtra, for she and her children sang to the Buddha: “Anyone who does not keep our spells but troubles the expounder of the Dharma shall have his head split into seven pieces just as the branches of the arjaka-tree are split.” (Murano 2012, p. 335) This statement is cited as one example of how the Lotus Sūtra also contains the method of subduing.