The Indian Buddhist Iconography
by Benoytosh Bhattachacharyya | 1958 | 51,392 words | ISBN-10: 8173053138 | ISBN-13: 9788173053139
This page contains an iconography image of Four Dance Deities: Lasya and represents figure 206 of the book Indian Buddhist Iconography, based on extracts of the Sadhanamala English translation. These plates and illustrations represent either photographs of sculptures or line-drawing reproductions of paintings or other representations of Buddhist artwork.
Figure 206 - Four Dance Deities: Lāsyā
Fig. 206: Lāsyā
(Peiping)
There are four deities in this group and they are homogenous in character. These are Lāsyā, Mālā, Gītā, and Nṛtyā, all required in the staging of a drama or in entertainments. All these four deities are popular in the Vajrayāna pantheon and are described times without number both in the Sadhānamālā as well as in the Niṣpannayogāvalī. In the Chinese collection at Peiping statuettes of these deities are found. [...] They [viz., Lāsyā] are violent in character with garland of severed heads, and dance in Pratyālīḍha. They show the Tarjanī against the chest as the common gesture.
1. Lāsyā:
Colour: red;
Arms: two;
Symbol: Lāsya dance.
The first deity of the Lāsyā group is Lāsyā who is described in the following words: “Lāsyā is of red colour and with pride she arranges her two hands in the Lāsya act”. Two statuettes of Lāsyā are found in the Chinese collection. One
of the statuettes is illustrated in Fig. 206.