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 Dakini Group and represents figure 217-218 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 217-218 - Four Ḍākinī Group

Dakini
Fig. 217: Ḍākinī
(Peiping)
Lama
Fig. 218: Lāmā
(Nepalese painting)

Usually in this group of goddesses are included the names of Ḍākinī Lāmā, Khaṇḍarohā and Rupiṇī who are widely mentioned in the Tantric works of rituals. In the Sambara-maṇḍala of the Niṣpannayogāvalī their names are mentioned as companion deities of Sambara. Again, in the Ṣaṭcakravarti-maṇḍala they are mentioned as companion deities. But their forms are found described only in the Sādhanamālā. According to this authority they are all alike in appearance holding identical symbols.

Two statuettes of Ḍākinī occur in the Chinese collection. The names of three others do not find mention in China. In Tibet, Lāmāḍākinī belongs to this group, and a remarkable and perhaps unique statuette of the goddess from the W.B. Whitney collection in the Freer Gallery of Art is illustrated in the Iconography of Tibetan Lamaism.

Fig. 217 illustrates the Chinese statuette of Ḍākinī, and Fig. 218 is a Nepalese picture of Lāmā Ḍākinī.

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