The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c19.s1.t10.9

c19.s1.t10.9

The Red form is no less terrible than the one described above. She is surrounded on all sides by the terrible burning grounds. She stands in the Ālīḍha attitude, on the orb of the sun, is in the prime of youth, and has red complexion. She rides the corpse, is nude, has three eyes, red and round, contorted brows, protruding belly and tongue, and is endowed with the six auspicious symbols. She carries the Kapāla in the left hand and the Vajra in the right, while the Khaṭvāṅga hangs from her left shoulder. This form of Vajrayoginī is similar in many respects to the forms of both Nairātmā and Vajravārāhī, so much so, indeed, that a confusion is likely to arise in the identification of their images. If an image shows the dancing attitude in Ardhaparyaṅka, it may be identified as Nairātmā or Vajravārāhī, but if it shows the Ālīḍha attitude, it may have to be identified as Vajrayoginī. The excrescence near the right ear and the corpse lying on its chest is peculiar only to Vajravārāhī; while the absence of the excrescence and the corpse lying on its back point to Nairātmā. The Ālīḍha attitude is peculiar only to Vajrayoginī.