The deity Yamantaka , as the name suggests , is terrifying to behold . It is said that he is the emanation of the Boddhisattva  Manjushree . He has eight heads . The principal head is that of a bull or a buffalo . He has 34 arms and sixteen feet with which to subdue Yama . Above the eight heads is the gentle face of golden – colored Manjushri .

His two principal hands hold a skull cup and vajra  cleaver . His legs are bunched together . He wears a garland of fifty severed heads , symbolizing fifty Sanskrit vowels and consonants or seed syllables , and a crown of five skulls , symbolizing his perfection in the wisdom of five Buddhas . His body is deep blue in color , symbolizing his wisdom  which is as vast as space . His two horns symbolize the two truths ; his sixteen legs symbolize sixteen types of emptiness . His thirty – four arms plus body , speech and mind symbolize the Thirty – seven factors of enlightenment . He is naked because he has abandoned all the concerns of the worldly mind .

Under his right foot is a human being and various animals , signifying his mastery over the eight siddhis , under his left foot are many birds and animals , symbolizing his mastery over the uncommon siddhis .

In his right hand he holds a curved knife , a dart , a wooden pestle , a fish – knife , a harpoon , an axe , a spear , an arrow , a hook , a skull club , a khatvang , a discus , a vajra , a vajra hammer , a sword , and a drum .  

In his left hands he holds a skull cup filled with blood , the head of Brahma , a shield , a leg , a lasso , a bow , intestines , a bell , a hand , a shroud , a person impaled on a stick , a brazier , a scalp , a threatening mudra , trident , and a  fan for making fire offering .