Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Worldly Protector (Buddhist) - Tsiu Marpo

འཇིག་རྟེན་པའི་ལྷ། ནང་ལྷ། 世俗的神(佛教)
(item no. 15245)
Origin Location Eastern Tibet
Date Range 1800 - 1899
Lineages Nyingma and Karma (Kagyu)
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Shechen Archives - photographs
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Warrior

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Tsi'u Marpo: the red 'tsen' daemon, principal worldly protector of Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet.

Wrathful with one face and two hands he holds a spear upraised in the right and a heart in the left held to the mouth. Riding atop a pink horse he is accompanied by his six brothers.

Two lineage lamas are seated at the top accompanied by three wrathful meditational deities. Protectors occupy the foreground.

Sanggye Lingpa (1340-1396) discovered the 'Middling Collection of Precepts, the Gathering of the Guru's Intention' (Tibetan: ka du bar wa la ma gong pa du pa) in the great cave of Puri Rinchen Barwa in the year 1364.

Jeff Watt 11-2000

Secondary Images
Related Items
Thematic Sets
Buddhist Protectors, Worldly Deities (Lokapala)
Buddhist Protectors: Worldly (Nyingma)
Subject: Three Kings (Tibetan Protectors)
Buddhist Worldly Protector: Tsiu Marpo Main Page
Painting Style: Palpung - Wrathful Deities
Painting Set: Lama Gongdu 1
Buddhist Protectors: Worldly (Kagyu)
Collection of Shechen Archives: Gallery I