Nine Protector Deities

This vibrant scroll painting (thangka), teeming with deities and their jeweled and flaming halos, is dedicated to nine wrathful deities particularly important to the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism, with Six-armed Mahakala largest and primary among them. At the top center the founder of this school, Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), is flanked by the important religious hierarchs the Fourth Panchen Lama, Tenpa Nyima (1782–1853), and the Ninth Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso (1805– 1815). The Ninth Dalai Lama (top right), who died as an adolescent, is depicted with an unusually large face and eyes, as if to suggest childlike features.

The artistry of this baroque work, bursting with activity and complex overlapping layers, is evident in such details as the white whiskers of Brahmanarupa Mahakala, which exhibits superb brushwork. Bhamanarupa is a form of the great Buddhist protector Mahakala as a brahman, here shown blowing a trumpet made from a human leg bone, with a sword slung from his right arm and a rosary of skulls on the left.