The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c22.s5.1

c22.s5.1

The eight Dikpālas or the Lords of the Eight Quarters are described in the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara Maṇḍala and other places in the Niṣpannayogāvalī. They are the Lords or rather the embodiments of the four principal directions and the four intermediate corners, and resemble the Yamāntaka group of deities of the Buddhists. Their forms are described below in the same order as they appear in the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara Maṇḍala. Here only one typical form is given, although there are many more, even with their female counterparts.