ssion,
and the Five Kings,[1042] a group of fierce spirits, under the
presidency of dPe-dkar.

It remains to say a word of the numerous goddesses who play an important
part in Tibetan Buddhism, as in Hindu Tantrism. They are usually
represented as the female counterparts or better halves of male deities,
but some are self-sufficient. The greatest of these goddesses is
Tara.[1043] Though Lamaist theology describes her as the spouse of
Avalokita she is not a single personality but a generic name applied to a
whole class of female deities and, as in many other cases, no clear
distinction is drawn between her attendants and the forms which she herself
assumes. Originally benevolent and depicted with the attributes of Lakshmi
she is transformed by a turn of Tibetan imagination, with which the reader
is now familiar, into various terrible shapes and is practically the same
as the spouse of Siva, celebrated in the Tantras under countless names.
Twenty-one Taras are often enumerated in a list said to be well known even
to the laity[1044] and there are others. Among them are (_a_) the Green
Tara, the commonest form in Tibet. (_b_) The White Tara, much worshipped by
Mongols and supposed to be incarnate in the Tsar of Russia, (_c_) Bhrikuti,
a dark blue, angry, frowning form, (_d_) Ushnishavijaya,[1045] a graceful
and benevolent form known to the Japanese. She is mentioned in the Horiuji
palm-leaf manuscript which dates from at least 609 A.D. (_e_) Parnasavari,
represented as wearing a girdle of leaves and also called Gandhari, Pisaci
and Sarva-Savaranam Bhagavati.[1046] She is apparently the goddess of an
aboriginal tribe in India. (_f_) Kurukulla, a goddess of riches, inhabiting
caves. She is said to have given great wealth to the fifth Grand Lama, and
though she might be suspected of being a native deity was known in Nepal
and India.[1047]

The Goddess Marici, often depicted with Tara, appears to be distinct
and in one form is represented with a sow's head and known as
Vajravarahi. As such she is incarnate in the abbesses of several
monasteries, particularly Samding on lake Yamdok.[1048]

A notice of Tibetan Buddhism can hardly avoid referring to the use of
praying wheels and the celebrated formula Om mani padme hum. Though
these are among the most conspicuous and ubiquitous features of
Lamaism their origin is strangely obscure.[1049] Attempts to connect
the praying wheel with the wheel of the law, the cakravartin and other