མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ། | Glossary of Terms

A class of female deities.

In the higher tantras they are portrayed as keepers of tantric teachings or embodiments of enlightenment. Otherwise in Indian culture, however, they are possibly dangerous female spirits haunting crossroads and charnel grounds, and are in Kāli’s retinue.

Covers a wide range of meanings‍—in general a female being, not necessarily benevolent, ranging from a powerful spirit to a retinue deity in a maṇḍala. Also the name of the royal goddess in the east, see “Ḍākinī.”

A class of powerful non-human female beings who play a variety of roles in Indic literature in general and Buddhist literature specifically. Essentially synonymous with yoginīs, ḍākinīs are liminal and often dangerous beings who can be propitiated to acquire both mundane and transcendent spiritual accomplishments. In the higher Buddhist tantras, ḍākinīs are often considered embodiments of awakening and feature prominently in tantric maṇḍalas. In this text, they are divided according to three types: sky dweller (Skt. khecarī), earth dweller (Skt. bhūcarī), and subterranean dweller (Skt. pātālacāriṇī).

Like yoginīs, these are semidivine female beings who have long haunted the margins of South Asian culture. They are frequently propitiated in order to acquire mundane and transcendent spiritual accomplishment.

A class of female deities; a class of female nonhuman beings.

A class of female spirits; also applies to a class of Buddhist deities.

Unlike in tantric genres posterior to Kriyātantra where ḍākinīs can be part of the sambhogakāya pantheon, in Sūtra and Kriyātantra literatures a ḍākinī is a female spirit of a lower order.