Vajravali, Ngor Mandala. (Tibetan: dor je treng wa): painting #13 from a set of paintings of unknown number depicting the forty-two mandalas of the Vajravali Ritual text compiled by Abhayakaragupta in the 11th century. Currently only seven others from the set are known. The Guimet Museum in Paris (#2), the Kimball Museum in Texas (#?) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (#5) each have one painting. The four remaining paintings are found in private collections in Europe and the USA (#7, #8, Kalachakra #11, Vairochana Manjuvajra #13 shown above).

The paintings were commissioned by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456) between 1430 and 1456 to commemorate the passing of one of his principal spiritual teachers, Sazang Pagpa Shonnu Lodro (1358-1412/1424). The work was done at Ngor Monastery, Tsang Province, Tibet, by six Newar artists from Kathmandu Valley including the artist Wanguli and his brother.

The four mandalas pictured in this painting are: at the top left Dharmadhatu Vagishvari fifty-three deity mandala (Vajravali #25), top right Navoshnisha Shakyasimha thirty-seven deity mandala (Vajravali #24), bottom left Bhutadamara Vajrapani thirty-three deity mandala (Vajravali #26), and bottom right Marichi twenty-five deity mandala (Vajravali #27).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has another painting from a different Vajravali set but likely from the same atelier and time period titled Six Chakravartins as does the Freer Gallery of Art with a painting depicting four mandalas.

See Early Tibetan Mandalas: The Rossi Collection.

Also see: Sacred Visions, Early paintings from Central Tibet. Steven M. Kossak and Jane Casey Singer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. (Exhibition web page).

Jeff Watt 3-2007