Mekhala and Kanakhala
Mekhala ( or Mahakhala – "Elder Mischievous Girl") "The Elder Severed-Headed Sister" and Kanakhala (Kankhala, – "Younger Mischievous Girl") "The Younger Severed-Headed Sister") are two sisters who figure in the eighty-four mahasiddhas ("great adept") of Vajrayana Buddhism. Both are described as the disciples of another mahasiddha, Kanhapa (Krishnacharya). They are said to have severed their heads and offered them to their guru, and then danced headless. Their legend is closely associated with the Buddhist severed-headed goddess Chinnamunda. Legend The Legends of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas (, written by the Tibetan monk Mondup Sherab, which was narrated to him by Abhayadattashri c. 12th century) narrates the following tale: Mekhala and Kanakhala were daughters of a householder in Devīkoṭṭa (now in Bengal), who married them to sons of a boatman. Their husbands taunted them and their neighbours gossiped about them. Finally, Kanakhala could not take the abuse any more and suggested Mekhala that they should flee from their house. However, the wise Mekhala told her younger sister that they deserved it and would have to face the same torment somewhere else if they run away; they stay and bear the agony. The mahasiddha guru Kanhapa passed by their house with his retinue of