There are many magical theophanies in the world, and here is one of them, the Matara Deity or Matara God (摩多羅神). Now there is another designation of the same deity which is 'Matari,' but it's the feminine version of the same name, rooted in Sanskrit convention. But the two names have become an admixture, though hardly known by anyone. This mysterious god's name is based on Sanskrit Matara (mātaraḥ, मातरः) and Matrika (mātṝkā, मातृका), which literally means 'Mother.' There also might be a connection to the Maratha, whose religion venerates Shiva-Partvati and their multifarious avatars. Perhaps the male, Asian figure of the Matara God is a male-female combined guise.
The deity is shown with the two retainer boys Teireita (丁禮多）and Nishita (爾子多), whose names' Sanskrit origins are unknown. Here is a magical iconography and mandala-view of a divinity whose aspect is twofold. The Matara or Matrika can be pacified for good health and well being (hence the hand of "granting wishes" is made), and the other hand wields a magical implement, whose origin is again unknown, which also might reveal the hidden aspect of being a deity of sickness and disease.
There is a strain of influenza making its rounds this Winter, and these mysterious theophanies remind us of realms more rarified than the gross human realm. Gods manifest from vacuous space to warn and rebuke, and also protect. I offer this iconography as shamanic portal to peer into hyperdimensional worlds.
