ABSTRACT
For the numerous deities of the Buddhist Tantras, the best descriptive coverage is in Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography. Naro-pada explains divinity in terms of the one who achieved ecstasy in the body and who comprehended, i.e. was enlightened. He implies the Buddha under the title “Tathagata”, because this is the source of all the Buddhist Tantric deities, or the dominion in which they serve. Buddhaguhya in his Dhyanottara-patala-tika sets forth some main kinds of divinity to be contemplated, and he further breaks them down into varieties. There is the Primordial Buddha, or the final perfection of divinity, the composite of all Buddhas, called Vajradhara, and also Vajrasattva, Samantabhadra, or Kalacakra. Vajradhara is sometimes depicted in union with the Goddess, and sometimes by himself, as in the illustration. The names of the Buddha progenitors common to the Buddhist Tantras are Vairocana, Aksobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Vajrasattva.
