The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c16.t5.2

c16.t5.2

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 :