The Ashta Bhairava — the eight named in one verse

The Rudrayamala Tantra counts sixty-four Bhairavas. Eight of them are principal, and each of those eight presides over eight more, which is where the sixty-four comes from. All eight stand below Kaal Bhairav, who is not one of them but their head. The eight are guardians of the eight directions, and each is conventionally paired with one of the Ashta Matrika — Asitanga in the east with Brahmani, Ruru in the south-east with Maheshvari, Chanda in the south with Kaumari, Krodha in the south-west with Vaishnavi, Unmatta in the west with Varahi, Kapala in the north-west with Indrani, Bhishana in the north with Chamunda, and Samhara in the north-east with Narasimhi. Compilations that additionally give each of the eight a planet, a mount and a set of asterisms circulate widely, but they disagree with one another and with the standard dikpāla scheme, so they are not treated here as settled. A separate tradition, tied to Shakta geography rather than to the directions, holds that a Bhairava guards each of the fifty-two Śākta pīṭhas. That is a different enumeration and should not be folded into this one.