Item: Vaishravana (Buddhist Protector) - Riding a Lion

Vaishravana (Tibetan: nam to se. English: the Son of Namto): Guardian King, God of the Northern Direction.

Tibetan: Nam to se

With a stern look and large staring eyes, one face and two hands, he holds in the right a victory banner of variously coloured fluttering silks - a gift of the gods. The left holds to the side a black mongoose spitting a flood of coloured jewels collecting on the moon disc below. Adorned with a gold and jewel crown, earrings, body armour of gold, garments of various colours, pants and boots, he sits in a relaxed posture with the right leg extended atop an orange snow lion. Seated above a white moon disc and multi-coloured lotus he is surrounded by a blue-ornage nimbus and red aureola with orange flames.

At the top center is the wrathful bodhisattva Vajrapani, blue, with one face and two hands holding a vajra and lasso. On the left side is the Kashmiri teacher Kache Rinchen Dorje. Again to the left is Yellow Jambhala holding a bijapuraka fruit and a mongoose. On the right side is the Tibetan teacher Lhodrag Khenchen Lekyi Dorje. Again to the right is Black Jambhala holding a skullcup in the right hand and a mongoose in the left.

With two at the top and six more at the bottom, eight attendant horsemen accompany Vaishravana. Wearing the garb of warriors each has their own colour, unique object in the right hand, a mongoose in the left and ride on a horse. At the lower right. At the bottom right are three seated monk figures holding sticks of incense in the right hands and along with white scarves held outstretched in both hands.

"With vajra armour, a garland of jewel ornaments and the beautiful heavenly banner - fluttering, illuminated in the middle of a hundred thousand Wealth Bestowers; homage to Vaishravana, chief among the protectors of the Teaching." (Nyingma liturgical verse).

Vaishravana, leader of the Yaksha race, is a worldly guardian worshipped as both a protector and benefactor. He, with his wife - a naga princess, lives on the north side of the lower slopes of mount Meru in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings in a sumptuous palace bathed in green emerald light. As the leader of the Four Direction Guardians, he at the head of the others, swore an oath of protection before the buddha Shakyamuni. The stories and iconography of the Four Guardians arise primarily from the Mahayana Sutras and are common to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Lord Atisha popularized the meditation practice of Vaishravana in the 11th century.

Jeff Watt 10-98

Front of Painting
English Translation of Inscription: Homage to Khache Rinchen Dorje. Homage to Lhodrag Drupchen.

Wylie Transliteration of Inscription: kha che rin chen rdo rje la na mo. lho brags grub chen la na mo.

Thematic Sets
Buddhist Protectors, Worldly Deities (Lokapala)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 3
Buddhist Protectors: Worldly (Gelug)
Subject: Wealth Deities Main Page
Subject: Deity Colours - Yellow Main Page (Increasing Activities)
Subject: Three Yellow Ones
Buddhist Worldly Protector: Vaishravana Riding a Lion
Tradition: Gelug Tradition Main Page