Damchen Garwai Nakpo, the Oath-Bound Blacksmith

Damchen Garwai Nakpo, the Blacksmith, was a local pre-Buddhist Tibetan deity subdued by the great master Padmasambhava (8th century), who was invited to Tibet by the king to introduce Esoteric Buddhism to the region. Padmasambhava converted the Blacksmith and other local deities by oath to protectors of the Buddhist teachings. Riding atop a shaggy goat, his upraised right hand once held a hammer and his outstretched left hand once held a blacksmith’s bellows. Cast separately, the two objects are now lost.

This depiction has a particularly dynamic posture and lively continence. Details of the workmanship such as the contrasting patinas of the dark flesh and the gilding as well as the stylization of the skull ornaments on his crown and the garland around his neck suggest a Chinese manufacture.