Dakini

A ḍākinī (Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་, Wylie: mkha' 'gro ma THL Khadroma; Mongolian: хандарма; Chinese: 空行母; pinyin: Kōngxíng Mǔ; another Chinese and Japanese: 荼枳尼) is placed as Vajravārāhī in tantrism and as Tennin in Vajrayana Buddhism. The Sanskrit term is likely related to the term for drumming, while the Tibetan term means "sky goer" and may have originated in the Sanskrit khecara, a term from the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra. Dakinis are often represented as consorts in Yab-Yum representations. The masculine form of the word is ḍāka, which is usually translated into Tibetan as pawo "hero" (Wylie: dpa' bo ).

The dakini (and the daka) appeared in medieval legends in North India (such as in the Bhagavata Purana, Brahma Purana, Markandeya Purana and Kathasaritsagara) as a demon in the train of Kali who feeds on human flesh. They are comparable to malevolent or vengeful female spirits, deities, imps or fairies in other cultures, such as the Persian peri.

As a key tantric figure, the dakini does appear in Tangmi; the dakini figure disseminated into Japanese culture from Shingon Buddhism, evolving into the dakini-ten ("ten" means "deva" in Japanese), becoming linked to the kitsune iconography.