Ogres, Yakshas and Asuras
Ogres hunger after human flesh. They appear in Thai mural painting frequently semi-comically with a prominent under-bite. Despite their fiendish diet they are often portrayed sympathetically as suffering, emotional creatures just like humans, as with Sang Thong’s mother who dies of grief and despair at his rejection of her.
Asuras must not be confused with yakshas, who though rarely more attractive in appearance, are often protective spirits belonging to armies. Yakshas are the Ramakien ogres depicted in huge statues at royal palaces and wat, or as seen below as door guardians to temples.*
Asuras are the divine antagonists to the pantheon of gods (inherited from Hinduism) of Buddhist cosmology.
*Thai Painting by Jean Boisseler
Female Yaksha or Yakshini.
Yaksha and Yakshini are generally benevolent but sometimes mischievous, capricious, sexually rapacious, or even muderous nature spirits who are the custodians of treasures that are hidden in the earth and in the roots of trees. They are powerful magicians and shape-shifters.
(britannica.com)
As with many elements of Buddhism across Asia, the search for origins leads back to India.
Indians in rural areas still worship spirits that represent trees, waterbodies, rivers and mountains. They believe that these benevolent spirits bring them food, good harvest, health, fertility and offspring. Known as Yaksha, the male spirit and Yakshi, the female spirit, sculptures representing them can be seen in temples across India.
A large number of stone statues of Yakshas and Yakshis have been found all over North India testifying to the widespread popularity of this cult. Sometime after 200 BCE, the Yaksha cult began to be subsumed into the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. Yakshas were incorporated into the Hindu mythology as Kubera, the lord of wealth. While Yakshis took different forms as attendant spirits to gods.*
*Yakshis: The Silent Guardians on livehistoryindia.com
Yaksha dancing. Chiang Mai, Thailand.