Transliteration: yi dam gyi lha
<noun> Translation of the Sanskrit "iṣhṭhadevāta". Secret mantra terminology. 1) "The yidam deity". The particular deity being used as a ཡི་དམ་ yidam by a practitioner q.v. 2) "Yidam deity (deities)" a yidam deity or a grouping of yidam deities. Freq. used to mean all of the many yidam deities that exist. E.g., དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ་ "the assembly of deities of a (particular) maṇḍala" or "the deity assemblies of the maṇḍalas" (meaning each of the assembly of deities of each of the maṇḍalas under consideration).
