Lineage
The Sadhanamala, an important compilation of Indian Vajrayana sadhanas, contemporary with several Siddhas succinctly states:

“Lord Yamari (Yamantaka) is of dignified appearance, internally compassionate but externally terrific for the good of all beings.”

Professor Fokke Sierksma, author of a fascinating if controversial book on Tibet’s angry deities mentions the position of the original Nyingmapa sect as regards Yamantaka:

“The biography of Padmasambhava even speaks of a Yama Tantra, while Yamantaka’s near-absence is quite noticeable. It is even related that in the oldest monastery, Sam-ye, the ‘300 reflections on Yamantaka‘ with other Tantras, were not translated, but laid aside.”

It is however a fact that Yamantaka was known to Nyingmapa Lamas and protective spells, amulets and charms of this sect frequently include mantras to propitiate this wrathful deity. The “Great Empowerment Wheel of the Lord of Death”, the “Scorpion Empowerment Protection Wheel”, the “Great Voidness Expelling and Empowerment Treasury Wheel” as well as several versions of the “Lamas Heart Wheel” (Nying Thig) are examples of Nyingmapa-originated printed charms which carry extensive Yamantaka liturgies.

According to the Tangjur, a huge collection of Vajrayana writings translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, one of the main Indian Gurus of the Yamantaka teachings was Vairochana Rakshita (circa 728-764 C.E), a disciple of Padmasambhava and author of the Vajrabhairava Mandalavidhi Prakasa. Other important Vajrabhairava transmissions came from Ratnakara Shanti (circa 978-1030 C.E), author of the Vajrabhairava Ganachakra and the Krishnayamari Sadhana, Abhayakaragupta (circa 1084-1130 C.E), Sridhara, Sri Krishnaraja (author of the Krsnayamari Tantra) and Krishnapada.

Krishnacaryya, another Tantric Master and contemporary to Siddhas Jalandhari and Gopichandra (who probably flourished in the early 8th century), “introduced the Tantras in which the male and female divinities sit clasping each other” (ref. Pag Som Jon Zan of Taranatha). Jnanamitra, though not generally categorized as a Siddha, taught the Yamantaka Tantra (a “Father” Tantra, which emphasizes Method through understanding and experiencing the Illusory Body) and also visited the Jagannatha Hindu temple in Orissa. Other Yamantaka lineage holders include Siddha Saraha, Siddha Lawapa, Siddha Virupa and Siddha Kukuri (aka Kukuripa). The Siddha Lalitavajra is said to have “taken the form of Yamantaka and cleft a mountain with a sword, so as to make a passage through”. A “Yamantakaraja” personage is credited with initiating him into the important Guhyasamaja Tantra.