As one of the 108 forms of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Amoghapasha Lokeshvara (Unfailing Noose Lord of the World), is one of the most important deities in Newar Buddhism. He is one of the eight tutelary deities of the Kathmandu Valley. Amoghapasha Lokeshvara is worshiped by the laity in the Ashtami Vrata ritual performed on the eighth day of the bright half of each lunar month. Attendees are instructed as to how to transform themselves through meditation into Amoghapasha and thus become the embodiment of altruistic compassion themselves.
The sculpture would have originally been displayed in a group with Amoghapasha flanked by two of his female attendants, White (Sita) Tara to his right, and Bhrikuti to his left. A kneeling figure of Hayagriva to Amoghapasha’s left would complete the ensemble. Groups such as this were, and still are, placed in major Avalokiteshvara temples, in the city of Patan, Nepal, where a shrine to Amoghapasha and his retinue is mandatory for the major Buddhist monastic institutions.
This life-size representation of Amoghapasha stands on a lotus base. It has an ascetic’s piled hair with a diminutive seated figure of the meditation Buddha (dhyanibuddha), Amitabha. The sculpture originally had eight arms, but only three remain complete. The now-lost forearms of the other five were once tenoned to the torso. The upper right hand is held in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra). The lower right hand is held in the gesture of charity (varada mudra). The remaining left hand once held a mendicant’s water pot. The sculpture was originally brightly painted with patterned textiles, much of which has been lost through ritual cleansing. It was also once adorned with now-missing metal jewelry. See also M.72.1.10 and M.83.220.7.
