Mahakala Tibet, 1700s brass, 14 inches (35.5 cm) high Walter C. Mead collection 1933.14

Mahakala, the Great Black One, is the most popular of the protectors of Tibetan Buddhism, and is often found at the inner entrance of a temple or at his own special shrine. Here he appears in his six-armed manifestation, clothed in an elephant hide and a tiger pelt, trampling the prone elephant-headed figure of Ganesha. His fierce countenance is reinforced by his flame-like hair, a crown and a garland of skulls, and the vajra chopper and skull cup that he holds in his middle hands. Traces remain of a red pigment that once highlighted these features.


To Tibet & Nepal