Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Mandala of Vajrayogini (Buddhist Deity) - Vajravarahi

རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ། སྣང་བརྙན་ཡོངས། 金刚瑜伽佛母(全图) Vajra Sow
(item no. 69408)
Origin Location Nepal
Date Range 1700 - 1799
Lineages Buddhist
Size 54.61x40.64cm (21.50x16in)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Catalogue # B60D11
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Semi-Peaceful

Gender: Female

Interpretation / Description

Vajrayogini/Vajravarahi Mandala (Tibetan: dor je nal jor ma, dor je phag mo kyil kor): accompanied by fifteen retinue deities.

Sanskrit: Vajravarahi Tibetan: Dor je pag mo

Inside of two tetrahedrons (dharmadayo), four sided triangular shapes merged together, stands Vajrayogini, red in colour with one face, three eyes and dark yellow hair flowing upward. The right hand holds aloft a curved flaying knife and the left to the heart a skullcup. In the bend of the left elbow stands an upright tantric katvanga staff. Adorned with a tiara of gold and five white skulls, ribbons and gold and jewel earrings, a garland of fifty heads, a bone necklace, girdle, bracelets and anklets, she wears a long scarf billowing around the shoulders. With the right leg raised in a dancing posture, the left presses on a sun disc atop a prone figure. Above a moon disc and pink lotus seat, she is completely surrounded by the tight curling flames of orange pristine awareness fire.

In the four directions around the central figure stand four wrathful male deities, each embraces a female consort. Surrounding those are six more attendant female figures each with one face and four hands.

At the top center is the primordial Buddha of the Nyingma Buddhist Tradition Samantabhadra, blue, naked and embracing a consort white in colour. On the left side is Maitri Khechari Vajrayogini with the legs splayed as if jumping or flying in the air. On the right side is Naro Khechari Vajrayogini, looking up to the sky and drinking from the skull bowl. At the lower left is the wrathful, one faced, six armed, Vajrayogini, red in colour. On the right side is the wrathful blue-black Krodha Kali Vajrayogini.

At the bottom center is the meditational deity Yogambara, blue, with three faces and six hands, embracing a consort and riding atop a lion. On the left side is Achala in the form known as Chandamaharoshana, blue in colour, holding a sword upraised in the right hand and a vajra lasso in the left; embracing a consort while pressing the left knee to the ground. On the right side is a wrathful deity, white in colour, holding a stick in the right hand.

Jeff Watt 6-2009

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [Ranjana script in two rows along the front bottom border of the composition]

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