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Ḍākiṇī

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Ḍākiṇī (Skt., ‘female witch’; Tib., mkhaʾ.ʾgro.ma, ‘Female one who moves through the sky’). A class of Goddesses in Tibetan Buddhism attendant upon yogins. Historically, ḍākiṇīs were known in India as flesh-eating attendants of Kālī, and as the sexual partners of yogins. Iconographically, ḍākiṇīs are usually consorts of other deities, but it is only iconographically that they correspond to the Hindu śaktis: the ḍākiṇīs are associated with wisdom, not with power, for which reason they are referred to as prajñas (wisdoms).

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JOHN BOWKER. "Ḍākiṇī." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Ḍākiṇī." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ki.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Ḍākiṇī." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ki.html

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ḍākinī

A Dictionary of Buddhism | 2004 | | Copyright

ḍākinī (Skt.; Tib., mkha‘-’gro-ma). In tantric Buddhism, a ḍākinī is a type of accomplished yoginī or else a female deity, depicted iconographically as a naked semi-wrathful figure who acts as a guiding intermediary for practitioners and assists in the actualization of siddhis. First noted in Indian sources around the 4th century ce, ḍākinīs were probably tribal shamanesses in origin and their name can be linked to cognate terms meaning ‘summoning’ and ‘drumming’ rather than ‘flying’ as suggested by the Tibetan translation which means ‘sky-goer’.

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DAMIEN KEOWN. "ḍākinī." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

DAMIEN KEOWN. "ḍākinī." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-kin.html

DAMIEN KEOWN. "ḍākinī." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-kin.html

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