Marichi (Ray of Light) is the Mahayana Buddhist Goddess of the Dawn. She is believed to be a composite deity with her origins drawn from Ushas, the Vedic Goddess of the Dawn; the Hindu Sun God Surya; the Hindu warrior goddess Durga; the Tantric Buddhist goddess Vajravarahi, and Iranian sources. Her earliest sculpted representations are reportedly from Andhra Pradesh dating from the 5th-7th century, but the majority of extant examples are from eastern Indian and Tibet. Marichi takes multiple iconographic forms.
Here, the goddess has a tall crown and three heads (trishiras). The proper left head is a sow (varaha mukha). Portrayed within a shrine crowned by a sun and moon, she stands on a double lotus base in the militant posture (alidha asana). She has eight arms. Her lowermost hands hold a needle and thread to sew up the mouth of the sinful. Her remaining right hands hold (top-to-bottom) a thunderbolt (vajra), arrow (shara), and elephant goad (ankus). Her remaining left hands hold (top-to-bottom) an Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca), bow (dhanus), and a now-missing noose (pasha) against her left breast. By her feet are diminutive figures of her four companion goddesses, Varttali, Vadali, Varali, and the sow-faced Varahamukhi.