Mahakala (Buddhist Protector) - Chaturbhuja (Four-hands)
(item no. 648)

Bhutan

1800 - 1899

Ground Mineral Pigment, Black Background on Cotton

Collection of Rubin Museum of Art

(acc.# F1998.14.1)

 
Add to My Gallery



Chaturbhuja Vajra Nata Mahakala (Tibetan: gon po chag shi pa, dor je nag po chen po. English: The Great Black Vajra Lord with Four Hands) embracing the consort.

Sanskrit: Chaturbhuja Tibetan: Chag shi pa

At the top center is the Buddha Shakyamuni with Padmasambhava on the left and the tutelary deity Heruka Chakrasamvara on the right. At the middle left is a lama wearing monastic robes and a pandita hat; below that the Raven-Headed Mahakala (Tib.: gon po cha rog dong chen). At the right is Shabdrung Ngagwang Namgyal with the wrathful female protectress Shri Devi (Tib.: pal den Lha mo) riding a bay mule below. At the lower center is Vaishravana, the Direction King of the North with the mountain goddess Tseringma directly below. Various mountain deities indigenous to Bhutan surround both figures. A wrathful wealth deity, Machig Pel Lhamo, decorates the painted brocade-like frame.

Jeff Watt 4-2000


View other items in:
Thematic Set
Region: Bhutan, Paintings
Tradition: Kagyu, Enlightened Protectors
Mahakala: Chaturbhuja, Four-hands Main Page
Mahakala (Kagyu)
Textile: Brocade Mounts (Examples)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Bhutan
Region: Bhutan, Protectors



Copyright © 2012 Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.
Photographed Image Copyright © 2004 Rubin Museum of Art