Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Mandala of Jnana Dakini (Buddhist Deity) - (Three Faces, Six Arms)

ཡེ་ཤེས་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ། ནང་ལྷ། 智慧空行母(佛教本尊)
(item no. 101367)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1300 - 1399
Lineages Sakya and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Semi-Peaceful

Gender: Female

TBRC: bdr:W25336

Interpretation / Description

Jnana Dakini Thirteen Deity Mandala. A set of forty-two mandalas, as described in the Vajravali Sanskrit text of Abhayakaragupta, commissioned in honour of Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen.

"Seated above a lion, variously [coloured] lotus and moon seat is Jnana Dakini, blue [in colour], with three faces, blue, white and red, and six arms. Each face has three eyes. The right three hands hold a katvanga staff, axe and vajra scepter. The right three [hands] hold a bell, blood filled skullcup and a sword. Adorned with a skull garland and the five mudras, [she] is seated in sattva posture in the middle of a fiercely blazing mass of pristine awareness fire." (bod brgyud nang bstan lha tshogs chen mo bshugs so, page 388).

The meditational deity Jnana Dakini arises from the Chaturpita Tantra (catuhpitha-mahayoginitantraraja-nama) and is typically found in a thirteen deity mandala configuration. The principal deity of the tantra is Yogambara. (See TBRC w25336, w25337, w25338).

Jeff Watt 7-2009

Related Items
Exhibition Appearances
Exhibition: Mandala, The Perfect Circle (RMA)

Publications
Publication: Sacred Visions

Thematic Sets
Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Painting)
Buddhist Deity: Jnana Dakini (Masterworks)
Buddhist Deity: Jnana Dakini Main Page
Painting: Styles of Painting
Painting Set: Vajravali (Lama Dampa Set)
Subject: Vajravali Main Page
Mandalas: Cemeteries on the Outside