The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c16.t5: 5. Parṇaśabarī
The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c16.t5
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5. Parṇaśabarī
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| Colour—Yellow | Faces—Three |
| Arms—Six | Vāhana—Vighnas |
| Asana—Pratyālīḍha | |
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The worship of Parṇaśabarī, it is believed, is effective in preventing out-breaks of epidemics and in assuring safety to the terror-striken. The epithet ‘Piśācī’ given in the mantra shows that she was regarded as one of the demi-gods, half human, half divine. Two Sādhanas in the Sādhanamālā describe two forms of the goddess, one with the image of Akṣobhya on the crown and the other with that of Amoghasiddhi. In one, her faces are lit with pleasant smiles, and in another she smiles but has an irritated expression all the same. Curiously enough, the two images that have been discovered in Eastern Bengal, both have the effigies of Amoghasiddhi on the crown. The Dhyāna describing Parṇaśabarī of yellow colour with the image of Akṣobhya on her crown, runs as follows :
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“Bhagavatīṁ pītavarṇāṁ trimukhāṁ trinetrāṁ ṣaḍbhujāṁ prathamamukhaṁ pītaṁ, dakṣiṇaṁ sitaṁ vāmam raktaṁ, lalitahāsinīṁ sarvālaṅkāradharāṁ parṇapicchikāvasanāṁ, navayauvanoddhatāṁ pīnāṁ... dakṣiṇabhujaiḥ vajraparaśuśaradhāriṇīṁ vāmabhujaiḥ satarjanikāpāśaparṇapicchikādhanurdhāriṇīṁ puṣpāvaddhajaṭāmukuṭastha-Akṣobhyadhāriṇīṁ sūryyaprabhāmaṇḍalinīṁ adho vighnān nipātya sitapadmacandrāsane pratyālīḍhasthāṁ, hṛdvāmamuṣṭitarjanyādho vighnagaṇān santarjya dakṣiṇavajramuṣṭiprahārābhinayāṁ ..bhāvayet.
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Parṇaśabarī-Sādhanam” Sādhanamālā, pp. 306-307.
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“The worshipper should conceive himself as (Parṇaśabarī) of yellow complexion, with three faces, three eyes and six arms. Her first face is blue, the right white and the left red, and she smiles in a pleasing manner. She is decked in all sorts of ornaments, bears a garment of leaves, is arrogant in her youthful bloom, is stout in appearance and carries in her right hands the Vajra, the Paraśu and the arrow, and in her left the Tarjanī with the noose, the cluster of leaves and the bow. Her Jaṭāmukuṭa is decorated with flowers and the image of Akṣobhya; she has the effulgence of the sun as her aureole, stands in the Pratyālīḍha attitude on the moon over the white lotus, trampling under her feet the Vighnas. She threatens the host of (other) Vighnas with the clenched fist of the left hand exhibiting the Tarjanī against the chest, and shakes her right fist at (the host of the Vighnas) ..”
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The mutilated image (Fig. 140) in the Indian Museum, with three faces and six arms trampling upon Gaṇeśa, probably represents this form of Parṇaśabarī, as the word ‘Vighna’ in the Sādhanamālā often refers to Gaṇeśa. The above-mentioned Sādhana, further states that Parṇaśabarī may have an alternative form with four arms and the image of Akṣobhya on the crown, in which case she will carry the Vajra and the Paraśu in the two right hands, and the Tarjanī with the noose, and the cluster of leaves in the two left, omitting the bow and the arrow.
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Images of Parṇaśabarī are also found in Tibet ¹ and in China ².
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¹ Gordon : ITL, p. 71 ; Getty : GNB, pp. 134-135.
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² Clark : TLP, II, p. 278
Cites (1)
- Sādhanamālā — Sanskrit