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Goose Valley: the location is far West Tibet, sparsely populated and very isolated.

Above a salt lake is a small group of caves. In the largest cave are two partially destroyed stupas. Originally the sides of the stupas were decorated with paintings.

The stupa on the left has a lower square structure. Adorning the square are depictions of the life story of Shakyamuni Buddha. The upper vase-like portion of the stupa depicts various Tantric deities. A form of Vajrapani and retinue is immediately recognized among the many images.

Aryadeva is traditionally considered the most famous student of Nagarjuna. Both of these teachers are included in the group known as the Six Ornaments and Two Excellent Ones of the Southern Continent.

The nine added images are from a series of pen and ink drawings on paper illustrating the life story of Aryadeva. They were created in the 1960s by a respected Tibetan artist known generally by the title of Guru-ji.

Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal 1392-1481 [TBRC P318], the famous author of the Blue Annals - a history of Tibetan Buddhism.
There are three images of Go Lotsawa on the HAR website. All three images, one sculpture, one illumination, and one block print image, appear to be based on an original character filled portrait painting or portrait sculpture. The facial characteristics of the three images are remarkably similar.

The Svarodaya Manuscript is of Shaiva origin thought to originate in Kashmir over a millennium ago. It is essentially a book of magic and tied very closely to astrology and the astrological magic of India. The subject of the text is also sometimes referred to as martial magic because of its origin in relation to a battle between the God Realm and the Asura Realm. The great Indian God Shiva is credited with the creation of the Svarodaya manuscript. The source of the text is a dialogue between Shiva and Shakti. 

Many of the approximately 130 magical and astrological practices in the manuscript relate to marriage, harvest, child birth, and the many other normal and typical subjects associated with Indian magic.

The manuscript entered the Tibetan Buddhist world via Jumla in West Nepal and brought to Tibet where it was popularized amongst some family lineage groups. The text enjoyed a much greater popularity at the time of Desi Sanggye Gyatso in the 17th century. The subject of the Svarodaya was included in the monumental work of the Vaidurya Karpo (White Beryl) treatise on Tibetan astrology.

An early block print text of the Svarodaya from the 17th century contains many of the magical images - in the text they are called chakras. Several hand written manuscripts with some drawings included amongst the pages are also known to exist (see example). Two separate and unique large scrolls depicting all of the images of the Svarodaya have been identified along with a fully illuminated folio text with a drawing style very closely related to the Svarodaya scroll on the HAR website.

The Nyingjei Lam Collection has been updated and the various subject categories have been divided into separate and easy to browse pages.

The collection includes outstanding examples of Tibetan sculpture as well as works from Eastern India, Kashmir and Nepal. A great strength of the collection is the exquisite portrait bronzes. (See Nyingjei Lam on the Asian Art web site).

Subject Categories:

1. Buddhas

2. Indian Teachers

3. Tibetan Teachers

4. Deities

5. Protectors

6. Miscellaneous

 Buddhakapala, meaning the skull of the enlightened one, is a meditational deity belonging to the Wisdom Class, or Mother Tantra, of Anuttarayoga Tantra of Tantric Buddhism.

There are several different forms of Buddhakapala. Sometimes he appears with a consort and sometimes without. He can appear in single aspect or with a mandala of eight or twenty-five retinue deities.

In the most basic form Buddhakapala appears as described below.

"Buddhakapala is blue with one face and four arms. The right two hold a double-sided drum and a curved knife. The left two hold a skullcup and a katvanga staff. Having three eyes and the pile of hair adorned with a vishva-vajra and crescent moon, a crown of five dry skulls and a necklace of fifty wet, adorned with the six mudras, an elephant hide as a lower garment, standing in a dancing manner, half vajra, expressing the nine moods of dance. [He] embraces the consort Vishvasukha Matri, red, [holding] in the right a curved knife and a skullcup in the left embracing the Lord, surrounded by the eight goddesses." (Based on Ocean of Meditational Deities text of Taranata, 1575–1634).

This form of Chaturmukha Mahakala, with minor differences in detail from the Sakya form, was created by Terdag Lingpa Gyurme Dorje at the request of five monks from the Lhukang Temple.

The two examples below are somewhat different in detail from each other although both of the iconographic forms follow the general description of Chaturmukha as written in the text of Terdag Lingpa. The coloured image is of a small mural from an equally small protector chapel in Mindrolling Monastery in Tibet.

Mahakala, Chaturmukha (Four-faced Great Black One) associated with the Guhyasamaja Tantra along with the Twenty-five and Fifty Chapter Mahakala Tantras. Aside from the Sarma Tradition Chaturmukha later Nyingma Revealed Treasure Traditions (terma) of Chaturmukha arose.

According to the Sakya Tradition this form of Mahakala with four faces and four arms is rarely depicted in art and virtually never shown to those who are uninitiated. The early Sakya Teachers devised a simplified form of the deity to be depicted on paintings as a place card-holder for the true image and form which was considered too secret and dangerous to display publicly. The simplified form is that of what has come to be known as Brahmanarupa Mahakala. (See below for a short history).

Drogdze Wangmo, (English: the Powerful Friend): protector of the Nyingma Terma (Treasure) Tradition. This protector deity was popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries by the Mindrolling Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

"...One Mother, Mistress of the Three Realms, with a body maroon in colour, ferocious and frightful in appearance, with one face and two hands. In the right, eating the heart of an enemy, blood dripping and warm. Reflecting the Three Realms - the left holds a mirror. Wearing an upper garment of white silk, a tiger skin lower garment and a fresh human skin cloak. Dark brown hair hanging downward, earrings, a crown of five dry skulls and a necklace of fifty fresh, a garland of bones and a long necklace; standing haughtily with the left leg extended..." (Min-ling Lochen Dharmashri, 1654-1718. Tibetan source text TBRC W18, part II, pp.261-262).

The incarnation line of the Panchen Lama is a popular subject in Tibetan art. The majority of Panchen Lama paintings found in museum and private collections originate in the early 18th century with a single set of drawings and subsequent block prints. They are believed to be created at the famous printing house of Nartang Monastery (just West of Shigatse and Tashi Lhunpo Monastery).

A complete example of a painted set of compositions  belongs to the collection of Tibet House, New Delhi.

The Nartang set does not contain Amitabha, Padmasambhava or Atisha. Therefore, the set does not begin with Amitabha but rather most likely uses, as the central image, the current (for the time) Panchen Lama. All of the other previous incarnations would properly hang to the right and left side of the current and centrally positioned Panchen Lama. It would seem probable that at the time of the creation of the Nartang set it ended with the 2nd Panchen Lama Lobzang Yeshe (1663-1737).

The images below represent the incarnation line of Panchen Lamas in a single composition. Three of the paintings are very good examples that clearly depict different artistic styles. Two of those paintings are also exceptional because of the portrait quality of the facial features of the central figures.

The Milarepa Main Page has been updated with additional images.

As a sub-theme of the Five Forms of Tsongkapa, the mahasiddha form is sometimes depicted as the central figure of a composition surrounded by smaller figures of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas. So far six paintings have been identified with four of them included on the HAR website.

Two of the HAR images belong to sets likely likely including depictions of the other forms of Tsongkapa: HAR #65347, 77237. Three of the remaining paintings appear to have all been created based on a single model. Two of these are HAR #74042 and 90748. All of the individual compositions and sets of paintings identified thus far depict the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas according to the Vajrasana System.

The Tsuglakang Temple at the center of Lhasa is a great repository of works of art from the 8th century up to the present. This page of sculpture exhibits a selection of teachers from most traditions of Tibetan Buddhism in a range of sculptural and artistic styles. Like painting, sculpture can also have unique styles and stylistic traditions created by famous artists and family traditions.  (Not all of the images in the Tsuglakang Temple selection have been catalogued at this time).

This List of religious traditions, sub-schools and lineages below is intended to identify the traditional leadership structure of each tradition down to the present time. The current title and name of the leader has been added where possible. Following the name of the tradition and leader is a brief description of the known art and relevance for the tradition.

This is a work in progress with more names, content and links to be added.

Warrior Appearance is unique because it is based on Tibetan culture and not Indian cultural iconography. Warrior Appearance also describes both a look and a function. The appearance is that of a warrior and the function is that of an indeginous Tibetan god that has been subjugated, converted, and now employed as a Buddhist protector deity - called a Worldly Protector.

Warrior Appearance is distinct because nothing else in Tantric iconography really looks the same. A warrior is characterized as a male figure wearing a helmet, battle armor, boots and riding a horse. The warrior can hold a range of objects/attributes such as a riding whip, sword or spear. The warrior appearance is what defines the iconographic type, however the facial expressions can range from peaceful, semi-peaceful/wrathful, all the way to extremely wrathful. For this reason it is possible to confuse Warrior Appearance for Wrathful Deity Appearance. It is the over-all visual form of the warrior that is important, not the specific facial expressions. Always notice first the horse, the battle helmet, the body armor and the felt boots.

There are a very small number of human monastic figures that can be confused with Buddha figures. All of the human monastic teachers listed below have basic monastic appearance with the additional Buddha characteristic of the ushnisha on the crown of the head. Some of the figures typically display the gesture of teaching, or Turning the Wheel of Dharma. Occasionally there might also be the urna, single hair tuft, or white dot between the eyebrows.


- Rahula (arhat): commonly depicted with an ushnisha on the crown of the head

- Nagarjuna: commonly depicted with an ushnisha & teaching gesture

- Garab Dorje: commonly depicted with an ushnisha

- Padmasambhava, Shakya Sengge: commonly depicted with an ushnisha

- Sakya Pandita: commonly depicted with an ushnisha & teaching gesture


Monastic Appearance and Arhat Appearance are also similar to each other. There can be overlap in appearance which can lead to confusion in identification. The facial expressions of Arhats, the colours of the robes and the context of the composition are often very different from the depictions of Tibetan monastic figures. Arhats also do not have hats and rarely if ever have Tantric attributes such as a vajra or bell.

There are several types of objects that are created to represent offerings in Himalayan and Tibetan art. They can first be divided by medium: sculpture, painting and textile - applique and embroidery. Most of these objects are created as sets making it important to be aware of the Number Sets associated with offering objects.

The various mediums for sculpture can be almost anything that can render an object in three dimensions. Metal, clay, wood or stone are the most common materials. Painting and textile are only divided by medium and technique, otherwise the subjects and uses are the same for both. There are three styles of physical format: portrait, landscape and banner. The banners are very long horizontal scrolls intended to hang in temples. The portrait and landscape format styles are generally more iconographic while the banners are more decorative with repeating designs and motifs

Sculpture is employed primarily for Peaceful Offerings subjects & types:

- Human Figure

- Animal Figure

- Symbol Sets

- Mandala Plate



Painting and textiles are used more for Wrathful Offerings, subjects and types:

- Mount Meru & Miscellaneous Offerings

- Stylized Food (torma)

- Animals (from sets of offering paintings)

- Multiple Deity Attributes in a single composition

- Single Deity Attribute Composition

An Offerings in Art Outline Page has been added.

The Weird & Fantastical Gods & Deities Outline Page has been updated. Links have also been added to the other pages of weird subjects on the HAR website. Work still remains to be done on the main subject page of Weird & Fantastical Gods & Deities such as adding the various links to pages and outlines. There are also more weird gods and deities to include in this growing section.