Item: Mahakala (Buddhist Protector) - (unidentified)

Mahakala (Tibetan: nag po chen po. English: the Great Black One) from the Nyingma Tradition.

Dark blue in colour with one face and two hands he holds upraised in the right a kila dagger (Tib.: purba). The left hand at the heart holds a white skullcup. Attired in various flowing robes, standing atop two prone figures and a multi-coloured lotus he is surrounded by orange and red flames of pristine awareness. Three attendant figures stand below.

At the top center is the bodhisattva Shadaksari Avalokiteshvara with the Buddha Shakyamuni at the left and Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava on the right. Two lamas wearing monastic robes and orange pandita hats sit slightly below.

Jeff Watt 5-2000