Yogambara (Tibetan: nam khai nal jor), a meditational deity belonging to the Wisdom-mother classification of Anuttarayoga Tantra, made famous in the Vajravali text, a compendium of Tantric practices, of the Indian Pandita Abhayakaragupta, and also through the tradition of Marpa and Ngog lotsawa.

Semi-wrathful in appearance, dark blue in colour, he has three faces, blue, white and red. The main pair of hands holds a vajra and bell in a gesture of embrace. The second right caresses the breast of the consort Jnana Dakini. The third holds aloft an arrow. The second left holds a white skullcup and the third upraised a bow. Seated in the relaxed Buddhist lotus posture atop a sun disc, lotus and a lion (white snow lion), he is surrounded by a red-orange nimbus and a dark green aureole beneath an ornate canopy decorated with streamers.

At the top center is Vajrasattva, peaceful, white, holding a vajra and bell embracing the consort Vajra Garvi. Surrounded by four figures, Nagarjuna, Krishnapada, a monk and a layman, they sit atop lotus seats and billowing blue clouds.

At the upper left side is a tantric form of Manjushri with three faces and six hands. At the left is the heavenly realm of Akshobhya Buddha known as the Abhirati pureland. Slightly below a monk flies upward on a trail of cloud ascending to the heavenly realm.

At the middle left a group of tantric yogis enjoy a ritual feast. At the right a white goddess with one face and four hands holds a vase to the heart with the first pair and performs mudras (gestures) with the second.

At the bottom left a red goddess with four hands dances atop a corpse and lotus seat. In the center a yellow goddess with four hands holds symbols of wealth while disgorging precious jewels onto a heap below.

At the right is Shri Devi, blue-black in colour, with one face and four hands, riding atop a brown mule in a sea of blood surrounded by billowing smoke.

The deity Yogambara arises from the Chaturpita Tantra and is typically surrounded by a 77 deity mandala. The practice was popularized in Tibet by Marpa the Translator and his student Ngog Lotsawa. (See Guhyasamaja and Kalachakra from the same set).

Jeff Watt 3-2000

In the book A History of Tibetan Painting by David Jackson, he says; "Another interesting reference to the mKhyen-ris style from the autobiography of the 5th Dalai Lama refers to the commissioning around 1670/71 of a set of tangkas depicting mandalas (dkyil thang) from the Vajravali cycle. The political ruler (sDe-pa) undertook to sponsor it. Since sMan-thang-pa had been perfectly expert in peaceful deities and mKhyen-brtse in fierce deities and mandalas, in the Great Fifth's opinion it was essential that both lineages should not die out," (pp.159-160).