Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Jnana Dakini (Buddhist Deity) - (Three Faces, Six Arms)

ཡེ་ཤེས་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ། ནང་ལྷ། 智慧空行母(佛教本尊)
(item no. 77247)
Origin Location Tibet
Date Range 1700 - 1799
Lineages Buddhist
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Publication: Wisdom Publications, Calender
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Semi-Peaceful

Gender: Female

TBRC: bdr:W25336

Interpretation / Description

"Seated above a lion, variously [coloured] lotus and moon seat is Jnana Dakini, blue [in colour], with three faces, blue, white and red, and six arms. Each face has three eyes. The right three hands hold a katvanga staff, axe and vajra scepter. The right three [hands] hold a bell, blood filled skullcup and a sword. Adorned with a skull garland and the five mudras, [she] is seated in sattva posture in the middle of a fiercely blazing mass of pristine awareness fire." (bod brgyud nang bstan lha tshogs chen mo bshugs so, page 388).

The meditational deity Jnana Dakini arises from the Chaturpita Tantra (catuhpitha-mahayoginitantraraja-nama) and is typically found in a thirteen deity mandala configuration. The principal deity of the tantra is Yogambara. (See TBRC w25336, w25337, w25338).

Jeff Watt 2-2014 [updated 7-2018]

Wisdom Calendar 2006 - July (full catalog list)

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Buddhist Deity: Jnana Dakini Main Page
Buddhist Deity: Deities (Female)
Subject: Female Meditational Deities (Buddhist)
Painting Set: Sadhanamala (and other collections)
Collection: Christie's, Painting (October, 2005; Amsterdam)
Buddhist Deity: Jnana Dakini (Masterworks)