Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Achala (Buddhist Deity) - Blue, Standing

མི་གཡོ་བ། 不动明王(梵名:阿遮罗)
(item no. 9157)
Origin Location China
Date Range 1200 - 1299
Lineages Kadam, Sakya and Buddhist
Material Ground: Textile Image, Kesi
Collection Private
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Deity

Appearance: Wrathful

Gender: Male

Interpretation / Description

"Arya Achala has a body dark blue in colour with one face and two hands. The right hand holds aloft a sword and the left performs the wrathful gesture at the heart. Above a lotus and sun seat [he] stands with the right leg bent and the left straight [atop] Vighnanraja [Lord of Hindrances - the elephant headed Ganesh]. Wearing a lower garment of tiger skin, having three eyes, red and round, orange hair flowing upward, all the limbs adorned with snakes, [he] stands in the middle of a blazing mass of fire." (The Narthang Gyatsa of Chim Namka Drag).

Jeff Watt [updated 6-2019]

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