Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Worldly Protector (Buddhist) - Machen Pomra

འཇིག་རྟེན་པའི་ལྷ། ནང་ལྷ། 世俗的神(佛教)
(item no. 200030)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1800 - 1899
Lineages Bon
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.# F1998.3.15
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Warrior

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

Amnye Machen: a mountain god of the Amdo region of north eastern Tibet.

Tibetan: Ma chen pom ra

Handsome in appearance with one face and two hands he holds upraised in the right a long spear with a fluttering pendent. The left holds to the side a golden treasure vase. Attired in the garb of a warrior, a helmet crowns the head and armor protects the torso, arms and legs. Bright coloured garments loosely worn are caught by the wind and unfurl upward. A bow and full quiver of arrows hang at the waist. Riding on the back of a white snow lion with a green mane, atop a leopard skin mat, he sits surrounded by a circle of rainbow light - also enclosing the mountain named Machen Pomra above.

At the top center is the primordial deity Shenlha Okar, peaceful, white, with the hands in meditation posture. At the left is a figure wearing monastic robes and a hat. At the right is a white Kandroma (Sky Goer) holding a curved knife and skullcup, standing in a dancing posture. At the right and left corners sit deity figures.

Directly below are two main attendant figures similarly enclosed in spheres of rainbow light. Mounted on horses, attendants numbering twenty-eight stand at the sides and below, also a monk with a yellow hat riding a bird, four figures in red cloaks standing at the bottom and numerous wild animals.

Jeff Watt & Lee Hartline 1-2000

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Bon: Artworks (All)
Buddhist Deity: Machen Pomra Main Page
Bon Religion: Protector Deities Main Page
Exhibition: Bon, The Magic Word (RMA 2007)
Subject: Mountain Gods & Local Deities
Bon Deity: Machen Pomra (Bon)
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Bon Artworks
Subject: Geography (Sacred Bon Mountains)