The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c22.s7.1

c22.s7.1

From time immemorial people in India believed in the power of the planets either for evil or for good. That belief is still current. The Hindus, Buddhists and Jainas alike shared in this belief, and in all these three religious systems the planets were deified and they were given a form, weapon and colour. To compare the forms of the different planets in the three religious systems is itself an independent and stupendous study. It is not the purpose here to compare their forms, nor even to study their iconography extensively, but a passing and brief reference to the planets is what can and should be given. As the planets were deified in Buddhism also, their forms are stated below in the same order and in the same manner as they appear in the Maṇḍala of Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara of the Niṣpannayogāvalī.