The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c19.s1.t6.2

c19.s1.t6.2

Mahāpratisarā¹ is the principal goddess in the Pañcarakṣā group, and her worship is widely prevalent amongst the Tāntric Buddhists. She is represented either singly or in a Maṇḍala in the company of four other Pañcarakṣā deities. She is generally yellow when worshipped independently, and white when worshipped in the Maṇḍala of the five goddesses. She may be represented with four faces and eight arms, or with three faces and ten arms, in accordance with the Sādhanas, but in actual representations she may have three faces and eight arms. The form with three faces and eight arms, is said to bear the image of Ratnasambhava on the crown, and the other yellow form may also be assigned to this Dhyāni Buddha. The Sādhana describes the former in the following terms: