Gods and Goddesses of Buddhism and Hinduism

	YAMANTAKA Yamantaka is the conqueror of Death (Yama). He is the ferocious emanation of Manjushree. Under this form he conquered the demon king of Death (Yama). The simplest form of Yamantaka has one bull head and two arms. He has a crown of skulls and the third eye. In his right hand is a chopper and left a skull cup. He has a belt of heads and steps to the right. In painting he is represented with sixteen feet, thirty four arms holding all the Tantra symbols and nine heads.
	ASTAMATRIKAS According to the Hindu Mythology Astmatrikas are the divine mother Goddesses or saktis. They are variously counted as seven, eight or ten. When they are eight in numbers they are Asta matrikas. They are related with the theme of struggle between the forces of knowledge and the forces of ignorance.
	BODHISATWA Avalokiteswara is famous as a Bodhisatwa emanating from the Dhyani Buddha, Amitabha and his consort 'Pandora'. He is said to be the Bodhisatwa who rules during the period between the disappearance of the Mortal Buddha, Sakyashimha and the advent of the future Buddha Maitreya. Bodhisatwa refused Niravana until all created beings should be in possession of the Bodhi Knowledge and to that end he is still supposed to work and foster spiritual knowledge amongst his fellow creatures.
	BRAHMA He is the creator of all worldly things. Brahma's consort is Saraswati, the Goddess of creative arts. The four main castes of Hinduism are related to the parts of Brahma's body from which they originated. The Brahmins came from his head, the Khestriyas from his arms, the Vaisyas, the traders and framers from his thighs and the Sudras class from his feet.
	HANUMAN Hanuman is a monkey faced God. He aided Rama to destroy Ravana, the ten headed demon king. He is often found in pictures with Sita and Rama or statues by himself. In Nepal, his images are usually covered with a thick vermillion mixed with mustard oil and often dressed in a red cloth with red or golden umbrella over his head. He is especially venerated by princes and warriors.
	MAHASAMBER Mahasamber is the Buddhist Guardian God known as 'The Great Defender'. He has seventeen heads in five rows four in each row and one at the top. The main head of the four in each row faces the front and is blue on the right and green on the left. The heads on the blue side are yellow and the pairs of heads on the green side are blue green and red. The heads are larger at the bottom and smaller at the top. All the faces are demonic i.e. square shaped with three bulging eyes, heavy eye brows, gaping mouth and fangs. The colour division of the main faces is continued all the way down the body, the right half being blue, the left half green. He has two sets of 17 and 18 arms i.e. making 70 arms. There are also four main arms. In these four arms he is holding his Sakti Vajravarahi. Each of Maha Sambara's feet has six toes and he stands with legs astide in Alidhasana.