Item: Mahakala (Buddhist Protector)

Mahakala, three faces and eight arms.

The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, Chapter 7. From the 84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha.

'The Eight-Armed Form 7.­2 “Mahākāla has three faces with blazing yellow hair that flows upward. His beard and eyebrows are ablaze, his fangs are bared, and he terrifies with his laughter. His main fearsome face is black, the face on the left is white,67 and the face on the right is blue-black. He wears a tiger skin as his lower garment and is garlanded with human heads. He is short, his belly hangs down, and he is adorned with the ornamented hoods of the eight nāgas.

7.­3 “The first pair of his eight arms embrace the Goddess. His second right hand holds a hooked knife, his third holds a vajra, and his fourth holds a ḍamaru. His second left hand holds a skull bowl that is full of blood, his third holds a bell, and his fourth holds a hammer. He has a corpse for his mount and stands with his left leg forward.

7.­4 “He is surrounded by four yoginīs. Caṇḍeśvarī is in the space to the east68 holding a hooked knife and a skull bowl. She is white, her hair is loose, her fangs are bared, and she is terrifying. Carcikā is in the space to the south. She is black and naked, has disheveled hair, and holds a hooked knife and a skull bowl in her hands. She stands with her left leg forward, bears her fangs, and so forth, and she is terrifying. Kālikā is in the space to the west. She is black, holds a trident and a skull bowl, has disheveled hair, and is similar to all the yoginīs mentioned above. In the north is Kulikeśvarī with arms raised, holding a skull bowl in her left hand. She is green, and all her remaining features are just like those mentioned above. [F.51.b] All the goddesses have three eyes.

7.­5 “The Blessed One is surrounded by the four goddesses,69 and he embraces and is in sexual union with the goddess. The eight-armed form is erected by performing those procedures.'