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The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c17.s6: 6. Vajravārāhī

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c17.s6

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6. Vajravārāhī

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Āsana—Dancing in Ardhaparyaṅka

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Characteristic feature—Excrescence near the right ear.

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The union of Vajravārāhī with Heruka is the cult of the celebrated Cakrasamvara Tantra. One of the Sādhanas gives her the epithet of "Śrī-Herukadevasyāgramahiṣī" or "the first queen of the god Śrī-Heruka". She is also called a Dākinī and in the Buddhist Tantra this signifies any Śakti with whom the Yuganaddha (yab-yum) worship may be performed. It will not be out of place to mention here that Heruka is also associated with Vajrayoginī and their union is the subject of the great Heruka Tantra, but Vajravārāhī differs considerably from Vajrayoginī in form. If Vajravārāhī is the first queen of Heruka, there is no reason to suppose that Vajrayoginī may not be another. In fact, it has already been shown that Heruka in yab-yum form used to be associated with other goddesses, such as Nairātmā and Vajraśṛṅkhalā, as well. Vajravārāhī is represented as nude and as displaying intense and passionate love.

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The name Vajravārāhī or 'adamantine sow' is given to her for the simple reason that she has an excrescence near her right ear which resembles the face of a sow. It is far more likely that Getty's story about Yun-gar's attack on the abbess and the monastery refers to Vajravārāhī than to Mārīcī; for while Mārīcī has one face which may be distorted sow-like, Vajravārāhī has a natural excrescence just near the right ear, which has gained for her the epithet 'Vajraghoṇā' in the Sādhanas. Another argument in favour of this is that, while Vajravārāhī is called a Dākinī, and is associated with four other Dākinīs, she may quite easily be an abbess, and therefore, a Siddha woman deified, and not a goddess. But Mārīcī is decidedly a goddess; she is Vajradhātviśvarī and the consort of a Dhyāni Buddha.

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Several Sādhanas, both long and short, describe two distinct forms of Vajravārāhī who is also known as Buddhaḍākinī and Vajravairocanī. She is either two-armed or four-armed. Even when two-armed she may have several forms according to weapons she carries in her two hands. In one Sādhana only is she said to emanate from the family of Vairocana, and bear the double Vajra on her head, but the others are silent as to her sire.

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Images of this very popular goddess are found in Tibet ¹ and China ².

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¹ Gordon: ITL, p. 80 ; Getty : GNB, pp. 131, 132.

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² Clark : TLP, II, p. 238.

(I) Vajravārāhī

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Colour—Red Appearance—Nude Arms—Two Āsana—Pratyālīḍha Symbols—Vajra-Tarjanī and Kapāla.

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Several Sādhanas in the Sādhanamālā describe two-armed forms of Vajravārāhī. Below is quoted a Dhyāna which gives a general idea of her form:

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Ātmānaṃ Bhagavatīṃ Vajravārāhīṃ dāḍimakusumaprakhyāṃ dvibhujāṃ dakṣiṇakareṇa vajratarjanīkākarāṃ vāmena karoṭakhaṭvāṅgadharāṃ ekānanāṃ trinetrāṃ muktakeśāṃ ṣaṇmudrāmudritāṃ digambarāṃ pañcajñānātmikāṃ sahajānandasvabhāvāṃ, pratyālīḍhapadākrānta-Bhairava-Kālarātrikāṃ sādramuṇḍamālālaṅkṛtagātrāṃ sravadrudhirāṃ pibantīṃ bhāvayet. Sādhanamālā, p. 425.

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"The worshipper should think himself as goddess Vajravārāhī whose colour is red like the pomegranate flower and is two-armed. She exhibits in her right hand the Vajra along with the raised index finger, and shows in the left the Kapāla and the Khaṭvāṅga. She is one-faced and three-eyed, has dishevelled hair, is marked with the six auspicious symbols and is nude. She is the essence of the five kinds of knowledge, and is the embodiment of the Sahaja pleasure. She stands in the Pratyālīḍha attitude, tramples upon the gods Bhairava and Kālarātri, wears a garland of heads still wet with blood which she drinks."

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The Sādhana further adds that the four petals of the lotus on which she stands are occupied by the four goddesses Ḍākinī, Lāmā, Khaṇḍarohā and Rūpiṇī in the four cardinal directions beginning from the right. The four companions are of blue, green, red and white colour respectively, and they are all one-faced and four-armed. They all carry the Khaṭvāṅga, the Kapāla in the left hands and the Ḍamaru and the Kartri in the two right hands.

(II) Vāsya-Vajravārāhī

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Symbols—Kartri and Kapāla Asana—Dancing in Ardhaparyaṅka Vāhana—Corpse lying on back

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This form of Vajravārāhī is invoked in those rituals which are performed with the specific purpose of bewitching men and women, and is very popular in Nepal and other Buddhist countries. This form is almost identical with the one described above with the difference that here the goddess wields the Kartri in the right hand instead of the Vajra, along with the raised index finger. The left has the Kapāla like the previous one. The Khaṭvāṅga as usual hangs from her left shoulder just as it is seen in the Heruka and Nairātmā images. She stands in the attitude of dancing in Ardhaparyaṅka on a corpse instead of showing the Pratyālīḍha as in the previous case ¹.

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¹ Sādhana No. 220 in the Sādhanamālā p. 433.

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Fig. 159 illustrates a Nepalese drawing of the goddess. A beautiful statute of Vajravārāhī is preserved in the Baroda Museum (Fig. 160).

(III) Ārya-Vajravārāhī

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Appearance—Terrible Asana—Ālīḍha Arms—Four

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The four-armed form of Vajravārāhī is also similar to the forms mentioned before, and is called Ārya-vajravārāhī. The difference lies only in the attitude, number of arms, and the symbols carried in her hands. She carries in the two right hands the Vajra and the goad, and in the two left the Kapāla and the Tarjanī with the noose. She is one-faced and three-eyed, and appears terrible with contortions of eye-brows, the adamantine excrescence, and the protruding tongue, teeth and belly. She stands in the Ālīḍha attitude on the corpse, unlike the other forms of Vajravārāhī. The Khaṭvāṅga hangs from her left shoulder as usual ².

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² Sādhana No. 224 in the Sādhanamālā, pp. 437, 438.

Cites (1)