While some scholars have put forward the theory that Acala originated from the Hindu god Shiva, particularly his attributes of destruction and reincarnation, Bernard Faure suggested the wrathful esoteric deity Trailokyavijaya (whose name is an epithet of Shiva), the Vedic fire god Agni, and the guardian deity Vajrapāṇi to be other, more likely prototypes for Acala. He notes: "one could theoretically locate Acala's origins in a generic Śiva, but only in the sense that all Tantric deities can in one way or another be traced back to Śiva." Faure compares Acala to Vajrapāṇi in that both were originally minor deities who eventually came to occupy important places in the Buddhist pantheon.