Emanations of Vairocana

Goddesses Marichi

She is generally invoked at dawn with proper ceremonies and rituals. This shows her connection with the Sun god and her iconographic features may be seen to have been adopted from the Brahmanical Surya though in a different manner. She drives a chariot drawn by three, five or seven pigs / horses; she has a female charioteer who has no legs or Rahu who has no body (PlateCXCVIII).

16 Sadhanas in the Sadhanamala describes as many as 8 distinct forms of the goddess; 1 & 2 are one face with two hands, 3 & 4 are three faced (one of sow) with eight hands and with four companions divinities, Varttali, Vadali, Varali and Varhamukhi, 5 is three faced (one of sow) with eight hands, but without the companion divinities, 6 is with three faces (with right and left of sow) with 12 hands, 7 is five faced with ten arms and four legs, and 8 is six faced with 12 arms, The majority of the Sadhanas describe Vairochana as the parental Dhyani-Buddha of the goddess.

Marichi is the Buddhist counterpart of Surya. The goddess is depicted either human headed or three headed (left head of the goddess is sow-like) and six armed forms are shown standing in the pratyalida posture either on a chariot the charioteer being rahu or on a plain pedestal. The right hand carries a needle, an arrow and thunderbolt. Two of the left hands hold the branch of an asoka tree and a bow, the three being in the tarjani mudra with or without a thread ending in a noose.

The eight-armed bejewelled Marachi carries in her four right hands a needle, an elephant-goad, and an arrow and a thunderbolt and in her left hands a string, a bow and the branch of an Asoka tree, the principal left palm being in the tarjani mudra

Asokakanta

Generally two-armed and one headed Marichi is known as Asokakanta. She holds the bough of an asoka tree with her left arm and right arm in varad mudra she bears the image of Vairochana on the crown; but she is known as Arya-Marichi if she carries the needle and the string in her two hands (Plate-CLXVII).

Chunda

Chunda (Plate-CXXVIII C)is an important deity of the Buddhist pantheon. Three Sadhanas -129, 130 and 131 describes fourhanded form of this goddess and this form has been more often represented in sculptures and paintings. Abhayayakara Gopal’s Nishpannayagavali mentions a goddess of 26 hands forms, apparently of this goddess Chunda, with six, twelve, sixteen and eighteen hands are also known. This multiplicity of forms reflects in a manner, the popularity of the goddess among the Buddhist worshippers of those days,

She is the embodiment of the Chunda dharini or Chunda mantra and so is endowed with all the mystic powers that the Dharini or Mantra represents. One of the Sadhana -130, describes her as Vajrasatva-mukuatm, i.e. with Vajrasattava on her crest. By her association with various mandalas she is supposed to have the Dhyani-Buddha of the principle deity of the mandala as her sire, for instance, she may have Vairochana when she is affiliated to Manjuvara-mandala. As a Dharini deity she may have Amogasiddhi, as all Dharini deities are said to have collectively emanated from this Dhyani-Buddha (Bhattacharyya 1958: 337).

Aryasarasvati

Sarasvati the Hindu goddess is known as Aryasarasvati in Vajrayanism. She is the goddess of knowledge, she holds in the left arm the stalk of a lotus on which Prajnaparamita book is placed (Plate-CXCVII). The Dhyana is silent about the symbol carried in the right arm and the asana is also not mentioned (Bhattacharyya 1958: 152).

After give a brief description on the background to iconographic features of the deities represented on the various stupa under discussion, in the last chapter-6 ‘Conclusion’ summary of the research work is done.