Four-armed Mahakala with Consort

Ground mineral pigment on cloth

30 x 21 1⁄2 in. (76.3 x 54.4 cm.)

The Mactaggart Collection. Bonhams Hong Kong, 3 Oct 2017, lot 28.

Private collection, California.

Teachers, worldly deities, protectors, and wrathful retinue figures coalesce in this cloud and flame-filled composition, replete with gruesome charnel ground scenes and white-clad ngagpa practicing within. A four-armed blue-black protector and his consort trample a supine human corpse with a pained expression at center, demonstrating their power to destroy ego. The central figure holds a blazing sword and bloody heart in his two proper-left hands and a skullcup and trident in his right, identifying him as a form of Mahakala or Gonpo Nagpo Chenpo. His dwarfish and big-bellied body is partially concealed by the backside of his female counterpart, who holds a curved knife and skull cup (unseen). Their sexual embrace is depicted here in an explicit manner, atypical among other traditional depictions of this figure. Below Mahakala and his consort, groups of bloodthirsty animals await the flesh of his fierce retinue’s mortal victims while an assembly of humans and demigods observe.

This particular form of Four-Armed Mahakala was transmitted from Ga Lotsawa to the great terton or treasure revealer, Nyangrel Nyima Ozer (1136-1204), who modified the meditation script to better suit Nyingma practice. As such, the human figures at the top of the composition, surrounding Padmasmabhava at center, are Nyima Ozer’s lineage. The retinue figures here are telling of this specific identity. The Nyingma protector Rahula stands out the most with his many heads, his serpentine lower half, the wrathful face that constitutes his belly, and the thousand eyes that cover his otherworldly appearance. Shingkong, the lion-faced, blue bodied protector on the opposite side, is also unusual to see beside Four-Armed Mahakala (see Jeff Watt, himalayanart.org, set 4200).

The present image of the enlightened four-armed protector with his consort and retinue is particularly dynamic—with a packed and complex composition that reflects the forcefully purifying enlightened activity of the deities. This visual support is clearly intended for an advanced practitioner with the wisdom to grasp subversive imagery and the ability to hold the copious aesthetic details in their mind’s eye. Outside its traditional context the painting sustains great visual impact. The anonymous artist should be lauded for the creative and unique approach to this meditative formula.