Item: Achala (Buddhist Deity) - Blue, Kneeling

Tibetan: མི་གཡོ་བ། Chinese: 不动明王（梵名：阿遮罗）

(item no. 101339)

Origin Location	Central Tibet
Date Range	1200 - 1299
Collection	Private

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

"...Lord Achala. The body is blue in colour, one face, two hands, the right brandishing to the sky a sword fiercely flaming with a mass of wisdom fire. And the left at the heart, in a wrathful gesture, holds a vajra lasso wound [around the index finger] with the ends hovering above the shoulder. With bared fangs, biting down on the lower lip, possessing three eyes, the right gazes upward completely eliminating heavenly daemons. The left gazes down, destroying nagas, spirits of disease and earth lords. The middle gazes forward completely eliminating all types of obstacles. Wearing a white snake as a necklace, gathering the power of nagas, spirits of disease and earth lords; with black hair, tied in a black tuft on the crown of the head; with jewel ornaments and various silks as a lower garment. The heel of the right foot and the left knee are pressing down on the seat in a manner of rising; dwelling in the center of a flaming mass of pristine awareness fire." (From a Tibetan text written by Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup, 1497-1557. See Sanskrit source texts).

Jeff Watt [updated 6-2019]

Achala (Secret Visions). SACRED VISIONS EARLY PAINTINGS FROM CENTRAL TIBET. Steven M. Kossak & Jane Casey Singer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY USA Oct. 6, 1998 - Jan 17, 1999. Reitberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland Feb. 14 - May 16, 1999.