Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Mahakala (Buddhist Protector) - Shanglon (Minister)

མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ། ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ། 玛哈嘎拉
(item no. 32932)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1800 - 1899
Lineages Nyingma, Gelug and Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Dushanti Rozendu: one of eight attendant figures in the retinue of Mahakala Gonpo Shanglon belonging to the 'Revealed Treasure' Tradition (terma) of the Yutog Nyingtig discovered by Yutog Yontan Gonpo. (See the Shanglon Main Page, Outline Page, Yutog Nyingtig Main Page, and Yutog Nyingtig Outline Page).

"In the North west is demon Shanti Rozandu, smoky coloured, very fierce and frightful, with a bird head, bared fangs, red eyes, matted bloody hair, hanging breasts and two hands. The right [holds] a lasso of intestines and an axe. The left [hand] holds a heart. [She] rides a nine-headed iron wolf." (page 334).

At the top center is the wisdom dakini, the source of the teachings known as the Yutog Nyingtig, Kandro Palden Trengwa - the teacher of Yutog Yontan Gonpo. She is female, semi-peaceful and semi-wrathful in appearance, white in colour holding upright a long-life arrow in the right hand and a skullcup and vase in the left. She is adorned with a variety or ornaments and wears a tiger skin skirt, seated in a relaxed posture. (See the Yutog Nyingtig Lineage).

Jeff Watt 2-2014

Related Items
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Subject: Yutog Nyingtig Terma Cycle
Mahakala: Shanglon Dorje Dudul Main Page
Buddhist Protector: Shanglon, Retinue Figures (Miscellaneous)
Exhibition: The Art of Tibetan Medicine
Subject: Bird Headed Deities