Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Vajrakila (Eight Pronouncements)

རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ། 金刚普巴(本尊)
(item no. 102210)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1900 - 1959
Lineages Nyingma, Karma (Kagyu) and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment, Black Background on Cotton
Collection Shechen Archives - photographs
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

Vajrakila. Seated at the the top left and wearing a red hat is Situ Pema Wangchog (1886-1952).

"...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).

Jeff Watt [updated 7-2023]

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: [Name inscriptions for the two teachers at the top right and left]

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