Śivasaṃhitā 5.240

The twelve lakhs cover the three great orders of non-human beings in Indian cosmology: yakṣas (guardians of natural wealth, spirits of tree and water), rākṣasas (those who disturb rituals and spiritual life) and nāgas (divine serpents ruling underground waters and treasures). The yogi who controls them has harmonized nature’s three fundamental forces.

Dvādaśa-lakṣa = twelve lakhs (twelve times one hundred thousand), yakṣa = being of good but sometimes capricious nature, treasure guardian, rākṣa = obstructing demon (rāk- = to defend, protect, then those who defend themselves by destroying), oraga = serpent (ura = chest, ga = that goes), the nāgas that move in earth’s belly, īśvara = lord.

In the tantras’ sacred geography, yakṣas inhabit trees and forested lands, rākṣasas crossroads and cremation grounds, nāgas rivers and beneath the earth. The yogi having mastery over these three realms can move freely between the cosmos’s three levels (svarga, bhūmi, pātāla) without being disturbed by the forces governing each level.