He can be recognized by a small horse head surmounted on the top of his main terrific head and gives him his name Hayagriva. "Horse necked one". The horse head neighs very loudly and the sound is said to pierce all the false appearance inherent existence or substantial reality. His hair is disheveled and protruding from the horse head. He wears a crown of skulls and under a belt of heads hangs a tiger skin. His symbols are the thunderbolt, trident lasso etc.

 

In Buddhism he was considered a terrifying manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, Lord of Compassion. Hayagriva is an esoteric form of Hayagriva evoked in some meditations. He was created originally to conquer a demon named Matong Rudra. Hayagriva has three terrible heads, each surmounted by a horse head. His terrific nature is revealed by his crown of skulls, garland of severed heads, tiger skin skirt, and capes of flayed human and elephant skins. He is adorned in tiger skin and shown in his four right hands the Vajra, the staff, the karana pose and the raised index finger. The second touches the breast and two remaining ones holds the lotus and the bow. He has been especially favored by the Nyingma Order from its earliest days. He has many forms, often with three faces, six arms, and four legs, and sometimes with huge wings. The teachings of Hayagriva were first brought to Tibet from India by Padmasambhava.