Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Bhurkumkuta (Buddhist Deity) - (Three faces, six arms)

སྨེ་བརྩེགས། ནང་ལྷ། 秽迹金刚 (佛教本尊)
(item no. 68460)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1500 - 1599
Lineages Buddhist
Material Metal
Collection Nyingjei Lam
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Bhurkumkuta, Krodha Raja (Tibetan: me wa tseg pa, tro wo gyal po). A meditational deity specifically employed in the eradication of sickness and disease. Bhurkumkuta, Krodha Raja (Tibetan: me wa tseg pa, tro wo gyal po): a meditational deity specifically employed in the eradication of sickness and disease. The deity arises from the Krodha Bhurkumkuta Raja Stotra Mantra text written in the Sanskrit language and then later translated into Tibetan, Chinese, Manchu and other languages [khro'i rgyal po sme rtsegs la bstod pa'i sngags. Lha sa bka' 'gyur, vol. 90, pages 586-588]. (See the Bhurkumkuta Main Page).

"...Krodha Bhurkumkuta, with a body smoky in colour, three faces and six hands. The right face is white, left red, the main face is smoky. Each [face] possesses three eyes, four bared fangs and a fierce frown. Orange eyebrows and a moustache blaze upward, with brown-black hair flowing upward entwined with a blue-black snake with a yellow belly; and having a crown of five dry skulls. The first right hand holds a visvavajra, the second, a five pointed vajra, third, a vajra hook. The first left holds a vajra stick, second, a vajra lasso, the third performs a vajra wrathful gesture, and all of those are raised upward; [adorned with] a garland of dry skulls as a necklace. All the limbs are adorned with snakes; and wearing a lower garment of tiger skin. The two legs are in a wide stance, above a lotus and sun, standing in the middle of a blazing fire of pristine awareness arising from the body." (Chatral Kunga Lhundrup).

Jeff Watt 6-2003

Secondary Images
Related Items
Publications
Collection: Bonhams New York (Sculpture. March, 2019)

Thematic Sets
Collection: Bonhams, N.Y. (Nyingjei Lam)
Subject: Navigation Quick Guide
Subject: Wrathful Appearance (Iconography List)
Buddhist Deity: Bhurkumkuta Iconography
Collection of Nyingjei Lam
Buddhist Deity: Bhurkumkuta (Masterworks)
Sculpture: Miscellaneous
Collection of Nyingjei Lam (Deities)
Buddhist Deity: Bhurkumkuta Main Page
Subject: Purification Deities Page