Himalayan Art Resources

News

Damchen Garwa Nagpo - Updated

Garwa Nagpo, Damchen (English: the Avowed Blacksmith), the principal attendant deity in the entourage of the Tibetan worldly protector Dorje Legpa. Garwa Nagpo can typically be found in art as a retinue figure in paintings of Dorje Legpa or as an independent figure in a painted composition with his own retinue of attendant figures.


Garwa Nagpo is generally found as a standard protector deity in the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma Traditions. Some Gelug monasteries and incarnate lama traditions (trulku) have also adopted Garwa Nagpo as their special protector deity.


Dorje Legpa and his retinue, including Damchen Garwa Nagpo, were originally believed to be subjugated in Tibet by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. They are avowed, oath-bound, protectors and perform the specific function of safeguarding the Nyingma Terma (treasure) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.


General Description: Wrathful with one face and two hands, he is dark blue in colour, with three eyes, bared fangs and bright orange or brown hair flaming upward. The right hand holds aloft a vajra hammer and the left a blacksmith's bellows made of striped tiger skin. Adorned with a crown of five dry skulls and earrings he is lavishly attired in variously coloured full-length garments and felt boots. Riding atop a brown goat with two horns he is surrounded most often by grey or dark brown smoke along with licks of orange and yellow flame.


Damchen Garwa Nagpo can be accompanied by an assortment of retinue figures as described in the various ritual texts belonging to the different Nyingma Traditions of 'Revealed Treasure' (terma). Also, Garwa Nagpo is sometimes depicted with the accompanying figures of a black bear, fox, wild blue mule and a grey wolf. The animals function as servant-like messengers for the protector.