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Buddha Nageshvara Raja, also known as Nagaraja (Tibetan: sang gye lu'i wang chug gyal po [bcom ldan 'das klu'i dbang phug rgyal po]. English: the Enlightened One, King of Nagas). This unusual buddha form has the unique blue body colouring and a face white in colour. He holds the two hands at the heart in a special gesture and the head is adorned with a hood of seven snakes. It is very easy to confuse Nageshvara Buddha, Arya Nagrjuna and some forms of Shakyamuni Buddha. (See a comparison of these three figures).

Nageshvara Raja is a meditational deity in the Vajrayana system of Buddhism. In paintings he can be depicted either alone or with four accompanying bodhisattva figures: Nivarana-vishkambhin white in colour, Maitreya red, Manjushri yellow and Avalokiteshvara white. A Buddha with the same name, Nageshvara Raja, is also included as one of the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas.

However, it is doubtful that there is any relationship between the Nageshvara Raja Buddha of the Confession Sutra and the meditational deity Nageshvara Raja popularized by Jowo Atisha. It is most probable that these two Buddhas became conflated over time primarily because of the similarity in name. It is also possible that this conflation is a convention established by Je Tsongkapa. The vast majority of Gelug Tradition paintings that depict the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas portray Nageshvara Raja Buddha in the same appearance as the meditational deity. Whereas most if not all Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma Tradition paintings do not depict Nageshvara in the unique appearance of the meditational deity from the lineage of Jowo Atisha.

Lineage: Buddha Nageshvara Raja, Arya Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti, Dipamkara Atisha (982-1054), etc.

Forms of Nagaraja Buddha:

- Nageshvara Raja (The Sutra of the Three Heaps) form #1

- Nageshvara Raja (The Sutra of the Three Heaps) form #2

- Nageshvara Raja (The Sutra of the Three Heaps) form #3

- Nageshvara Raja Accompanied by Four Bodhisattva