Amoghapāśa, Amoghapasha
sk अमोघपाश, from अमोघा amogha [a name, 'unfailing', 'fruitful'] + पाश pāśa ['noose', 'binding rope', 'lassso', 'weapon of Varuna and Soma']
Amoghapāśa (अमोघपाश): Name of an often four-faced, four-, six-, eight- or twelve-armed Lokeśvara (Buddhist). One of the 108 forms of Avalokiteśvara, holding a noose like Yama "the Binder".
In Odisha (particularly in Ratnagiri) from the 8th century onwards, associated with salvation, liberation from fears, in particular as death is coming. The cult of Amoghapasa, linked to Mahayana Buddhism, expanded in maritime Southeast Asia. Often associated with Hindu god Yama.
Source
- Sonali Dhingra, "Saviour ‘at the Time of Death’: Amoghapāśa’s Cultic Role in Late First Millennium Odishan Buddhist Sites", in A. Acri & P. Sharrock (eds.), The Creative South: Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia, Singapore, ISEAS, 2022, vol. 2 :7:27.