Buddhist Worldly Protector: Chingkarwa
Mountain Gods Main PageSubjects, Topics & Types:
- Description (below)
- Warrior Appearance
- Tsangpa Karpo
- Protector Deities Main Page
- Masterworks
- Confusions
- Others...
Videos:
- Worldly Protectors
- Protector Deity Videos
Genyen Chingkarwa, a Tibetan worldly protector deity (god), is in the appearance of a Drala warrior. He is white in colour with one face and two hands riding atop a white horse. His face is not wrathful but in the manner of king - slightly stern. In the right hand outstretched is a long spear and in the left a bowl of jewels held at the waist. The top of his head is wrapped in a white cloth.
In some ritual texts Chingkarwa is related to Tsangpa Karpo as an attendant figure. The two worldly protectors are definitely very close in appearance and both appear to be related to Tashi Lhunpo monastery and the incarnation lineage of the Panchen Lamas.
Depictions of Chingkarwa as a central figure in a composition are rare. He is however commonly depicted as a secondary figure in paintings of Lobzang Palden Yeshe, 3rd Panchen Lama (1738-1780), following the famous Nartang composition of the previous lives of the Panchen Lamas.
Chingkarwa as a secondary figure: HAR #65787, 294, 60685, 439, 58980, 71933, 74830, 79188, 94267, 30635 and others.
Jeff Watt 6-2014
