Buddhist Deity: Parnashavari Religious Context
Parnashavari Main PageSubjects, Topics & Types:
- Description (below)
- Source Texts
- Parnashavari Outline Page
- Contagious Disease
- Medicine & Tantric Healing Outline
- Health, Healing & Longevity
- Healing Deities
- Meditational Deity Page
- Deities According to Function
- Colours & Activities
- Metaphor: curing contagion
- Tantra: Kriya Classification
- Confusions: Janguli, Shavari, Padma Shavari
- Others...
Videos:
- Parnashavari
- Parnashavari Colours & Sources
- Parnashavari & Janguli Comparison
The primary source text is the Parnashavari-nama Dharani (རི་ཁྲོད་ལོ་མ་གྱོན་མའི་གཟུངས། ri khrod lo ma gyon ma'i gzungs) and catalogued as Kriya Tantra. Of the three divisions of Kriya Tantra (Tatagata, Padma and Vajra) she belongs to the Tatagata Family. From the eight sections of the Tatagata Family she belongs to the 6th category known as 'Messengers of the Family'.
Parnashavari is also recorded as the 15th mantra in chapter 1 of the Siddhaikavira Tantra. The Siddhaikavira is cataloged in some traditions as a Kriya Tantra and in others as a Charya Tantra. She is further mentioned in the Hevajra Tantra, Part 2, Chapter 4, 'Seals'. The Hevajra Tantra belongs to the Yoganiruttara (Anuttarayoga) class. There are various mantras for the goddess Parnashavari depending on the tradition, tantra text and on the intention of the practice. The mantras are generally consistent in including the name 'Pishaci Parnashavari.'
The Siddhaikavira gives no physical description or history of Parnashavari, only a mantra and a brief explanation on the use relying on rituals, creation of a talisman and recitation.
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Jeff Watt 5-2003 [updated 9-2016, 6-2017, 1-2020]
(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).
