The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c15.t2: 2. Heruka

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c15.t2

Language: English

2. Heruka

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Heruka is one of the most popular deities of the Buddhist pantheon and a regular Tantra, the Heruka Tantra, is devoted to his worship. Heruka is worshipped singly as well as in yab-yum. When he is in yab-yum he is generally known as Hevajra and in this form he is popular in Tibet. Many of his forms are described in the Sādhanamālā in its numerous Sādhanas, and the additional ones are derived from the Niṣpannayogāvalī of Abhayākara Gupta.

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In the Sādhanamālā the worship of Heruka is said to confer Buddhahood on his worshippers, and he is said to destroy all the Māras (mischievous beings) of the world. A Dhyāna in verse in the Sādhanamālā describes his form in the following words :

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Śavasthaṁ ardhaparyaṅkaṁ naracarmasuvāsasaṁ I
Bhasmoddhūlitagātrañca sphuradvajrañca dakṣiṇaṁ II
Calatpatākākhaṭvāṅgaṁ vāme raktakaroṭakaṁ I
Śatārdhamuṇḍamālābhiḥ kṛtahāramanoramam II
Iṣaddaṁṣṭrākārālāsyāṁ raktanetraṁ vilāsinaṁ I
Piṅgordhvhakeśaṁ Akṣobhyamukuṭaṁ karṇakuṇḍalam II
Asthyābharaṇaśobhaṁ tu śiraḥ-pañcakapālakaṁ I
Buddhatvadāyinaṁ dhyāyāt jaganmāranivāraṇam II

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Sādhanamālā, p. 473.

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"The worshipper should conceive himself as the god (Heruka) who stands on a corpse in the Ardhaparyaṅka attitude. He is well clad in human skin and his body is besmeared with ashes. He wields the Vajra in the right hand and from his left shoulder hangs the Khaṭvāṅga with a flowing banner, like a sacred thread. He carries in his left hand the Kapāla full of blood. His necklace is beautified by a chain of half-a-hundred severed heads. His face is slightly distorted with bare fangs and blood-shot eyes. His brown hair rises upwards and forms into a crown which bears the effigy of Akṣobhya. He wears a Kuṇḍala and is decked in ornaments of bones. His head is beautified by five skulls. He bestows Buddhahood and protects the world from the Māras (wicked beings)".

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In another Sādhana for the worship of this particular kind of Heruka the Khaṭvāṅga is described as being marked with a Vajra of five thongs and decorated with a banner with jingling bells, human heads and double lotus, the lower part of the Khaṭvāṅga resembling the Vajra with one thong. The Sādhana does not mention the number of heads in the necklace, but says simply that they are strung with guts. His left leg rests on the double lotus (and not on the corpse) while the right is placed on the left thigh in a dancing attitude.

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The image ( Fig. 125 ) discovered by Mr. N. K. Bhattasali and deposited in the Dacca Museum, agrees in all details with the description given above. Though the hands are broken it can yet be discerned that the right wielded the Vajra and the left carried the Kapāla against the chest. The attitude in which he stands is called the dancing attitude in Ardhaparyaṅka. His head-dress in decorated with five skulls and the effigy of Akṣobhya. The Khaṭvāṅga has an overflowing banner attached to it, and at the end of the banner small bells can be seen.

Cites (1)

Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit