 Some of these figures are found sporadically in texts throughout the Buddhist canon, most notably the "Mahāmayūrī Vidyarājñī Sutra".They are also recognized as attendants of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, which has become a popular theme in East Asian Buddhist painting and statuary.Esoteric tradition recognizes the rākṣasīs as avatars of respective Buddhas and bodhisattvas from whom they are believed to have manifested.