The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c10.s2.t2: Padmapāṇi
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c10.s2.t2
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Padmapāṇi
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Colour—Red Symbol—Lotus
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Padmapāṇi is the Bodhisattva attached to the Padma ( lotus ) family which is presided over by the Dhyāni Buddha Amitābha whose spiritual consort is Pāṇḍarā or Pāṇḍaravāsinī. The Lotus is the symbol of this family and the colour assigned to this family is red. The Bodhisattva Padmapāṇi begets the red colour and a full-blown lotus as his symbol. Padmapāṇi is fairly well represented in the Buddhist countries of the North including Tibet ¹ and China. One of his images is illustrated in Fig. 21 ².
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¹ Getty : GNB. pp. 61, 62
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² This and other illustrations of the five Dhyāni Bodhisattvas are in full-size bronzes. All these are to be found in the U Vahal in Nepal.