A thangka of Mahakala Panjarnata

TIBET, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A thangka of Mahakala Panjarnata
Tibet, 17th century
Standing on a lotus base holding a curved knife and skull cup in his hands with a jeweled staff resting across his forearms, dressed in a tiger skin dhoti and adorned with a streaming ribbon and garland of severed heads, the bearded face with bared fangs and bulging eyes surmounted by a skill tiara with the hair in flames, surrounded by various deities with a lineage of Sakya teachers above and retinue figures below
19 x 14 in. (48.2 x 35.6 cm.)

Provenance

Private collection, Europe, acquired in London, 30 June 1987

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Lot Essay

Vajra Panjara Nata Mahakala, the full name of the deity in the present work and in the following lot, means the Great Black One, Lord of the Vajra Pavilion. He is the protector of the Shri Hevajra cycle, and the specific iconography of the deity, including the gandhi stick he holds across his arms, is found in the Vajra Panjara Tantra, a Sanskrit-language text from India. In contrast to the lotus cirlce of a mandala, the Vajra Pavilion is imagined as a three-dimensional wall of vajras surrounding the mandala. Impenetrable, the Vajra Pavilion is without doors or windows, and the voids within the vajras are filled with yet smaller vajras. The Vajra Panjara Tantra is an exclusive explanatory text to understanding Hevajra itself.

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