Aakash Vajrapani T he Thunderbolt-bearing Bodhisattva: A TO Z INDIA ● MARCH 2023 ● PAGE 31 Like Indra he holds the thunderbolt and is coloured dark blue or white. His statues are often found in a triad with the Buddha Amit ā yus (or the bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañju ś r ī ) and the lotus- bearing bodhisattva of compassion, Padmap āṇ i. In Tibet he assumes ferocious forms to combat demons and to guard the mystical teaching of Buddhism , and in Japan he guards the temple doorways. Vajrap āṇ i, Min Mah ā y ā na Buddhist mythology, one of the celestial bodhisattvas (“Buddhas-to-be”), the manifestation of the self-born Buddha Ak ṣ obhya. Vajrap āṇ i (Sanskrit: Thunderbolt-Bearer) is believed to be the protector of the n ā gas (half-man, half- serpent deities) and sometimes assumes the shape of a bird in order to deceive their traditional enemy, the hawklike Garu ḍ a. Because of his association with the rain- controlling n ā gas and with the Hindu god of rain, Indra, he is invoked in times of drought. Vajrapani, the “holder of a thunderbolt” (vajra), shares his origins with the Vedic deity Indra, god of storms. Early in Buddhist iconography, the thunderbolt scepter assumed an independent meaning associated with clarity of pure thought leading to enlightenment.