Buddhist Deity: Dvajagrakeyura Main Page
Dvajagrakeyura MasterworksSubjects, Topics & Types:
- Description (below)
- Iconography:
--- Three faces, four arms (Blue, Bari Lotsawa Tradition)
--- Four faces, four arms (Yellow)
--- Four faces, eight arms (Blue, Shakya Rakshita Tradition)
- Wood Blocks & Banners
- Prayer Flags Main Page
- Female Imagery: Introduction
- Masterworks
- Confusions: Ekajati, Mahakala, Krodha Tara, Devi Vetala, Bhurkumkuta
- Others...
Videos:
- Dvajagrakeyura
- Prayer Flags
Dvajagrakeyura (banner ornament, banner armlet) is a Tantric Buddhist meditational deity represented in several different forms, colours, numbers of heads and arms, etc. Aside from the original Sanskrit source text, Dvajagrakeyura Dharani, her initiation rituals and meditation texts are found in the One Hundred Sadhanas of Bari (Bari Gyatsa) of Bari Lotsawa, The Ocean of Sadhanas (Drub Tab Gyatso) of Panchen Dragpa Gyaltsen and the Rinjung Gyatsa of Taranata. (See Iconography: Source Texts and Examples).
Drub Tab Gyatsa:
[67] "...Dhvajagrakeyura, [with] three faces and four hands. The body and main face are black, the right red and the left green. Having bared fangs and three eyes. The two right hands hold, a sword and a lasso. The two left, a katvanga and chakra. Yellow hair bristling upwards. Adorned with a garland of skulls and wearing a lower garment of tiger skin and an inner garment of yellow cloth. [With] the belly hanging down [and] standing with the left [leg] extended." (Konchog Lhundrub, 1497-1557. Bari Gyatsa edited version).
Rinjung Gyatso:
'...Dvajagrakeyura Vajra Vetali, blue-black in colour, fierce, with four blue-black faces, eight arms. In the right [hands] are a sword, pestle, wheel, and arrow. In the left [hands] are a trident, lasso, bow and a wrathful gesture. The four feet press down on the Four Maras. Wrathful in appearance with ornaments and garments. Akshobhya appears as a crown.' (Jonang Taranata, 1575-1635. Rinjung Gyatso, #268, folios 530-531, Lineage, folios 297-298).
Drub Tab Gyatso: (Shakya Rinchen, 9th Je Khenpo)
107. Dvajagrakeyura, Black with Three Faces and Four Hands
108. Dvajagrakeyura, Yellow with Four Faces and Four Hands
(An Ocean of Methods of Accomplishment, Folio 71-72).
The Sanskrit text for the deity Dvajagrakeyura instructs the Buddhist follower to make a banner-flag displaying the complete long dharani formula. This is typically done by carving a wood block and making a print (see example below).
Database Search: All Images.
Jeff Watt 3-2004 [updated 4-2017, 1-2020, 1-2025]
References:
Lotsawa House: Gyaltsen Tsemo Pung Gyen Series
bod brgyud nang bstan lha tshogs chen mo bzhugs so, 2001. ISBN 7-5420-0816-1. Page 811, 813.
Toh 612/923. The Dhāraṇī of Dhvajāgrakeyūrā. The Incantation, The Arm Bracelet Atop the Standard. རྒྱལ་མཚན་རྩེ་མོའི་དཔུང་རྒྱན་གྱི་གཟུངས། · rgyal mtshan rtse mo'i dpung rgyan gyi gzungs. dhvajāgrakeyūradhāraṇī. [3 pages].
