Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Mahakala (Buddhist Protector) - Panjarnata (Lord of the Pavilion)

མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ། ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ། 玛哈嘎拉
(item no. 65004)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1700 - 1799
Lineages Sakya, Gelug and Buddhist
Size 85.70x58.40cm (33.74x22.99in)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment, Black Background on Cotton
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.#C2001.1.4
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

TBRC: bdr:W25327

Interpretation / Description

Great Black One, Lord of the Pavilion (Tibetan: gur gyi gon po. Sanskrit: Panjarnata Mahakala). This form of Panjarnata in solitary aspect is the special protector of the Panjarnata Tantra, an exclusive explanatory tantra to the Two-Section Hevajra Tantra. The tradition of Solitary Panjarnata is passed down through the Margapala lineage of the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Panjaranata Main Page | Panjarnata Outline Page

Panjaranata Masterworks | Mahakala Resource Page

"The Great Vajra Mahakala, blazing, with one face, two hands, in the right a curved knife and left a skullcup filled with blood, held above and below the heart. Held across the middle of the two arms is the 'Gandhi of Emanation;' with three eyes, bared fangs, yellow hair flowing upward, a crown of five dry human skulls and a necklace of fifty fresh, blood-dripping. [He is] adorned with six bone ornaments and snakes, with a lower garment of tiger skin, flowing with pennants and streamers of various silks; dwarfish and thick, in a posture standing above a corpse." (Konchog Lhundrub, 1497-1557).

Jeff Watt, 4-2001

Numbered:
1. Panjarnata Mahakala
2. Hevajra
3. Gayadhara
4. Drogmi Lotsawa
5. Khon Konchog Gyalpo
6. Sachen Kung Nyingpo
7. Sakya Pandita
8. Chogyal Pagpa
9. Sita Shadbhuja Mahakala
10. Shmashana Adhipati
11. Shri Devi

Secondary Images
Related Items
Thematic Sets
Iconography: Three Moods & Gender Page
Buddhist Protectors: Enlightened
Painting Type: Black Ground Main Page
Buddhist Protector: Mahakala Main Page
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art (RMA): Main Page
Mahakala: Panjarnata, Lord of the Pavilion (Main Page)
Painting Type: Black Ground Masterworks
Collection of RMA: Black Ground Masterworks (Curator's Selection)
Mahakala: Panjarnata, Solitary
Mahakala: Panjarnata Masterworks (Painting & Textile)
Subject: Wrathful Appearance Page
Painting Set: Gelug Protectors (Purbu Chog)
Subject: Masterworks (Male Deity, 男神)
Collection of RMA: Black Ground Masterworks
Mahakala: Panjarnata, 3 Iconographic Topics