Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Vajrakila (Eight Pronouncements)

རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ། 金刚普巴(本尊)
(item no. 87631)
Origin Location Eastern Tibet
Date Range 1960 -
Lineages Nyingma
Size 48.26x35.56cm (19x14in)
Material Ground: Paper
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc. #C2001.4.130, Gift of William Hinman
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

Vajrakila.

Sanskrit: Vajrakila

"...the king of wrath, bhagavan Vajrakumara, with a body blue-black [in colour], three faces and six hands. The right face is white, left red, the center blue. Held with the two pairs of right and left hands are a nine and five pointed vajra, a blazing mass of fire and a trident. The remaining two roll a kila. The body is huge and heavy, with bared fangs, three eyes - round and red, brown hair flowing upward; wearing an elephant hide, human skin, and a tiger skin as a lower garment. Adorned with white, red, green, and black snakes as a crown, necklace and sash, decorating the arms and legs. Five dry skulls adorn the head. Wearing a garland of fifty fresh [heads], marked with clots of rakta, spots of great ash and a smear of grease, adorned with various jewel ornaments. With four legs the right are bent and left extended atop the head of Ishvara - face down, and the breast of Uma, standing in the middle of a massive fire of pristine awareness." (Sakya Ngawang Kunga Lodro, 1729-1783).

Khon Vajrakila Lineage: Dharmakaya Samantabhadra, Sambhogakaya Vajrasattva, Nirmanakaya Padmasambhava, Khon Lu'i Wang Srungwa, Khon Dorje Rinchen, Khon Sherab Yontan, Khon Tsultrim Gyalpo, Khon Dorje Tsugtor, Khon Gekyab, Khon Getong, Khon Balpo, Khon Shakya Lodro, Khon Rog Sherab Tsultrim, Khon Konchog Gyalpo, Tsechen Kunga Nyingpo, Lobpon Sonam Tsemo, Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen, Sapan Kunga Gyaltsen, Chogyal Pagpa Lodro Gyaltsen, etc. (See the Khon Family Lineage).

Jeff Watt [updated 12-2020]

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