Nalakuvara, also known as Nalakubara, appears in Hindu and Buddhist mythology as the brother of Manigriva, the son of the yaksha king Kubera, and husband of Rambha and Ratnamala. Nalakuvara often appears as a sexual trickster figure in Hindu and Buddhist literature.

The Yakshas are a broad class of nature spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities. The feminine form of the word is IAST: Yakṣī or Yakshini.