Kirtimukha

Kirtimukha (Sanskrit: कीर्तिमुख ,kīrtimukha, also kīrttimukha, a bahuvrihi compound translating to "glorious face") is the name of a swallowing fierce monster face with huge fangs, and gaping mouth, very common in the iconography of Hindu temple architecture in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia, and often also found in Buddhist architecture.^[1]

Unlike other Hindu legendary creatures, for example the makara sea-monster, the kirtimukha is essentially an ornamental motif in art, which has its origin in a legend from the Skanda Purana and the Shiva Purana.