Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Nairatmya (Buddhist Deity) - (2 hands)

རྡོ་རྗེ་བདག་མེད་མ། 无我佛母(萨迦派本尊)
(item no. 30580)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1400 - 1499
Lineages Buddhist
Material Metal
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Semi-Peaceful

Gender: Female

TBRC: bdr:W25326

Interpretation / Description

Vajra Nairatmya (Tib.: dor je dag me ma. English: the Selfless One, or Egoless One): from the Hevajra and Samputa Tantras - both early and important texts of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. Nairatmya is a meditational deity and partner to Hevajra. There are many different forms and combinations of forms for the two deities, alone, or as a couple in ecstatic embrace.

"Vajra Nairatma, [with] a body black in colour, one face and two hands. The right [hand] holds aloft a curved knife and the left a skullcup to the heart, and carrying a katvanga [in the bend of] the elbow. Having three eyes and bared fangs. Yellow hair bristling upwards. A crown of five dry human skulls and a necklace of fifty. Adorned with the five ornaments of bone. Wearing a lower garment of tiger skin. Standing on a corpse seat in a dancing manner with the left leg extended in a half [vajrasana] posture." (Konchog Lhundrub, 1497-1557).

Jeff Watt 2-2014

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Buddhist Deity: Vajra Nairatmya Main Page
Collection: Christie's. Jan. 28, 2014
Subject: Gauri, Yogini, Nairatmya
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