Buddhist Deity: Trailokyavijaya (Three-legs)

Dali Kingdom Main Page

Subjects, Topics & Types:
- Trailokyavijaya Description (below)
- Trailokyavijaya Comparison
- Wrathful Figures (Dali)
- Dali Kingdom Main Page
- Masterworks
- Confusions
- Others...

Chronology of Trailokyavijaya Sculptural Works:

1. Original Dali Kingdom Works (937-1253)

2. Early Copies post-Dali up to Kangxi Period (Post Dali, 1254-1734):

3. Qianlong Copies (1735-1796):
- #33759
- #93613
- #94945

4. Post-Qianlong Copies (1797 to the present):
- #22618
- #94946
- #95021

Trailokyavijaya is typically a wrathful deity found in the early Buddhist Tantra literature as a retinue figure. Rarely in Indian, Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhism is Trailokyavijaya portrayed as a central deity. In the art of the Dali Kingdom, Yunan Province, China, this deity is depicted as fearsome in appearance, with nine heads, sixteen arms and three legs.

In the gallery below the images show variations in iconographic appearance as well as different qualities of craftsmanship in the creation of the works. It is not clear if any of the sculpture below are true Dali Kingdom artefacts. One sculpture has some Kangxi period characteristics, three appear to be Qianlong period and three appear to be post-Qianlong period.

Jeff Watt 1-2015 [updated 9-2015, 5-2017]