Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Sherab Chamma (Bon Deity)

ཤེས་རབ་བྱམས་མ། བོན་ལྷ། 希绕强玛(苯教本尊)
(item no. 18461)
Origin Location Tibet
Lineages Bon
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

Sherab Chamma (Tibetan: shes rab byams ma): the the principal meditational form of Satrig Ersang of the Four Transcendent Lords. As Sherab Chamma (Loving Mother of Wisdom) she can appear either as a single subject in a composition or can have numerous surrounding attendant figures.

Peaceful in appearance and either yellow, orange or white in colour, Sherab Chamma has one face and two hands. The right hand typically holds a vase to the heart, or the lower right side, and the left a mirror in the upraised left hand or in the lap. Sometimes the attributes are reversed.

This composition is part of a set of paintings of unknown number. The iconographic composition of the secondary figures is very similar to a painting in the Rubin Museum collection HAT #200029, however this composition has slightly more figures.

Jeff Watt 1-2018

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Thematic Sets
Bon Deity: Sherab Chamma (Multiple Deities)
Bon Deity: Sherab Chamma Art History
Collection of Dr. Richard R. Ernst (Bon Paintings)
Painting Set: Bon Deities (East Tibet)
Bon Deity: Sherab Chamma Main Page