TIBETO-CHINESE, 18TH CENTURY

Brahmanarupa, or 'Brahmin form', Mahakala is the peaceful aspect of Four-Armed Mahakala (see lot 123) as passed down by the Tibetan translator Nyen Lotsawa. After Nyen received the ritual empowerment from the dakini Risula, she granted him a Brahman servant. According to tradition this servant was in fact Four-Armed Mahakala and the Brahman has retained his status as a lineage founder in the Sakya school. As it is inappropriate to reveal the true form of Four-Armed Mahakala to those who have not received the appropriate initiation, he is depicted in the guise of a forest ascetic with a bone trumpet. In one account it is also said that this deity appeared as a vision experienced by the great Sakya hierarch Chogyal Phagpa (1235-1280) while en route to the court of Khubilai Khan.