The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.9

c9.9

The Niṣpannayogavali is a work on Maṇḍalas and is remarkable for its richness of information and brevity. It contains in all 26 Maṇḍalas in twenty-six chapters, some short, some long. All these Maṇḍalas describe innumerable deities of the Tantra cult. A large number of these descriptions is absolutely original, highly interesting and informative. Many of the names and forms which were altogether lost, are published here for the first time. Many of the deities described accurately in the work are not to be found anywhere in printed literature. The Niṣpannayogāvalī thus presents a unique, original, useful and most valuable information which constitutes our most authentic material for the study of the images and deities belonging to the Buddhist pantheon. Niṣpannayogāvalī outbeats Sādhanamālā since the material presented here is more varied, more extensive and more prolific.