Twenty-eight ishvaris

The twenty-eight ishvaris (Skt. īśvarī; Tib. དབང་ཕྱུག་མ་ཉེར་བརྒྱད་, wangchukma nyer gyé, Wyl. dbang phyug ma nyer brgyad) are found in Mahayoga mandalas, such as the fifty-eight wrathful deities, and are also considered to be samaya-bound guardians in forms brought about by their own past actions. Yukhok Chatralwa Chöying Rangdrol explains the latter term by saying that such guardians "transcend the world and yet still appear in worldly forms created by their past karma and disturbing emotions like ordinary worldly beings. For example, when Vajra Manushya Rakshasi was the wife of Ravana, king of the Rakshasas, she had the face of a rakshasi, but then when she was abducted by Rudra, she transformed her rakshasi face into that of a yak."

The twenty-eight ishvaris are composed of four groups of six yoginis corresponding to the four activities, and of the four female outer-gate keepers:

According to the Guhyagarbha Tantra these are:

• Mahārākṣasī Manurākṣasī (srin mo chen po mi'i srin mo)
• Brahmāṇī (tshangs ma)
• Raudrī (i.e., Pārvatī) ('khrug mo)
• Indrāṇī (dbang mo)
• Vaiṣṇavī [Nārāyaṇī], ( 'jug sred mo)
• Kaumārī (gzhon nu ma)

• Piṅgalā (dmar mo)
• Amṛtā [Sūryā] (brdud rtsi mo)
• Saumī [Śāntī] (zhi ba mo)
• Daṇḍī (be con mo)
• Rākṣasī (srin mo)
• Bhakṣasī (za ba mo)

• Ratī (dga' ba mo)
• Rudhiramadī (ra ro khrag 'thung)
• Ekacariṇī (gcig pur spyod ma)
• Manohārikā (yid 'phrog ma)
• Siddhikarī (grub mo)
• Vāyudevī (rlung mo)

• Mahāmāraṇā (bsod byed ma)
• Agnāyī (me mo)
• Vārāhī (phag mo)
• Cāmuṇḍī (rgan byed mo)
• Bhujanā (sna chen mo)
• Varuṇānī (chu lha mo)

• Mahākālī (nag mo chen mo))
• Yellow-Red Mahāchāgalā (ra mgo dmar ser chen mo)
• Dark-Blue Mahākumbhakarṇī (bum sna sngo nag chen mo)
• Dark-Yellow Lambodarā (gsus 'dzin ser nag chen mo)

1. The six yoginis corresponding to the activity of pacifying:

• Rakshasi (white)
• Brahmi
• Mahadevi
• Lobha
• Kumari
• Indrani

2. The six yoginis corresponding to the activity of increasing:

• Vajra
• Shanti
• Amrita
• Chandra
• Danda
• Rakshasi (dark yellow)

3. The six yoginis corresponding to the activity of magnetizing:

• Bhakshini
• Rati
• Mahabala
• Rakshasi (pale red)
• Kama
• Vasuraksha

4. The six yoginis corresponding to the activity of subjugating:

• Vayudevi
• Nari
• Varahi
• Nanda
• Mahahastini
• Varunadevi

5. The last group is composed of the four female outer-gate keepers.