Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Marichi (Buddhist Deity) - Kalpoktam (3 faces, 8 hands)

འོད་སེར་ཅན་མ། ནང་ལྷ། 具光佛母(佛教本尊)
(item no. 35013)
Origin Location India
Lineages Buddhist
Collection The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Peaceful

Gender: Female

Interpretation / Description

Marichi, Kalpoktam.

[30] Kalpoktam Marichi. "Inside a vase stupa ...Marichi, with a body yellow in colour, three faces and eight hands. The main face is yellow, the right red and the left a blue pig face. Each face has three eyes. The four right hands hold, a vajra, hook, arrow and needle. The four left, a branch of the ashoka [tree], bow, thread and a wrathful gesture. Wearing a red inner garment and adorned with jewels and a garland of small bells. In the east is red Vettali with a pig face. [With] four hands the right hold, a needle and hook. The left, a lasso and [branch of] the ashoka tree. Wearing a red inner garment. In the south is yellow Vadali with four hands, the right hold a branch of the ashoka [tree] and a needle, the left a vajra and lasso. In the west is white Varali with four hands, the right [hold] a vajra and needle, the left a lasso and branch of ashoka [tree]. In the north is red Varahamukhi with three eyes [and] four hands. The right hold a vajra and arrow, the left a lasso and branch of the ashoka [tree]. Also, all are youthful maidens, adorned with all ornaments. Seated in a posture with the left leg extended." (By Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub (1497-1557), based on the Bari Gyatsa of Bari Lotsawa Rinchen Drag, 1040-1112 [P3731]).

Jeff Watt 8-2013

Secondary Images
Related Items
Thematic Sets
Collection of the Ashmolean Museum: Peaceful Deities (Sculpture)
Buddhist Deity: Marichi Main Page
Collection of The Ashmolean Museum (Sculpture)