Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Nairatmya (Buddhist Deity)

རྡོ་རྗེ་བདག་མེད་མ། 无我佛母(萨迦派本尊)
(item no. 57142)
Origin Location Northern India
Date Range 1100 - 1199
Lineages Buddhist
Size 15.40cm (6.06in) high
Material Metal
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

"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, 6-2006

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