The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c20.s8.1

c20.s8.1

There is a further group of goddesses representing the four musical instruments and are often mentioned in the Sādhanas and Maṇḍalas as companions of important deities. When everything else is deified there is no reason why these musical instruments should not also be deified. These four Musical Instruments are named as Vaṃśā (flute) Vīṇā (violin), Mukundā ((kettle-drum) and Murajā (drum) and we find them all deified with human form, colour, faces, hands and symbols. In the Vajraḍāka Maṇḍala they are collectively described as nude, violent in appearance, wearing garlands of skulls and severed heads and dancing in Pratyālīḍha. They display the different instruments as their special symbols. They are described below in the same order in which they appear in the Pañcaḍāka Maṇḍala.