Maheśvara
Maheśvara is a yakṣa who served as the chief of the ḍākinīs. Worldly people say he is the ultimate god. The ḍākinīs were subject to Mahākāla, the god called the 'Great Black One'.
↻ synthesized from 4 sources
When
- First attested
- 300 CE
- Attested period
- 300 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Mentioned in the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra (4th–5th century CE).
Relationships
- syncretized with
- Śiva
- co occurs with
- Vajrapāṇi, Śakra, Īśvara, King Brahma, Guanyin as Great Mercy, Guanyin as Great Compassion, Guanyin of the Universally Shining Great Light, Guanyin as The Divine Hero, Guanyin as Mahābrahmā the Profound, Fearless Lion-like Guanyin, Brahma, Vayu, Narayana, Saraswati, Candra, Harihara, Dharaṇī, Devi Sarasvatī, Nīlakaṇṭha, Vairocana, Mahākāla, ḍāka, Kalmaśapada, Vaiśravaṇa, Varuna, Adityas, Vishnu
- allied with
- Guanyin
- enemy of
- Acala, Trailokyavijaya, wisdom king
- served by
- Dakini
- child of
- Avalokiteshvara
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“[The ḍākinīs'] chief was the yakṣa Maheśvara, who worldly people say is the ultimate [god]. They were subject to Mahākāla, the god called the 'Great Black One'”
#6170 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“For instance, the Wisdom King Trailokyavijaya is shown defeating and trampling on the deva Maheśvara (one of the Buddhist analogues to Shiva) and his consort Umā (Pārvatī).”
#36209 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Āditya and Candra came from his eyes, Maheśvara came from his forehead, Brahmā came from his shoulders, Nārāyaṇa came from his heart, Devi Sarasvatī came from his canines, Vāyu came from his mouth, Dharaṇī came from his feet, and Varuṇa came from his stomach.”
#36520 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001