Mahakala, a major Buddhist Dharmapala (Protector of the Dharma), was a meditational deity (yidam) of the Sakya sect and is credited with helping introduce the important Eastern Indian Vajrayana text, the Hevajra Tantra (late 8th-early 10th century).
Mahakala is represented in this superbly crafted silver sculpture as Brahmanrupa Mahakala (Mahakala in the form of a Brahman). He sits in the relaxed posture (lalita asana) and has two arms holding a flaying knife (kartrika) in his right hand and a skullcup full of blood in his left hand. He is fearsome with glaring eyes, fangs, and a snarling mouth painted red on the inside, perhaps from drinking blood. Wearing a loincloth, shawl, and the cross-chest belt (chanavira) characteristic of ascetics and perfected beings (mahasiddhas), he has bone ornaments, including round lotiform earrings inlaid with turquoise, armlets, bracelets, anklets, and a long garland of freshly severed human heads. His ascetic’s matted hair is tied in a topknot pinned with a thighbone and adorned with a skull crown. The originally five skulls (two now lost) represent the transmutation of the five negative mental afflictions (kleshas) into the five transcendental Jina Buddhas. On the back of the figure, there is a large, plugged opening used to insert objects during consecration rites.
When he appears in Brahman form, there are variations in Mahakala’s attributes. Typically, he is depicted with a thighbone trumpet in his right hand. When he does not hold the trumpet, he often uses it to secure his topknot, as done here. Harvested from the charnel fields, the human thighbone trumpet is used not only in Tantric rituals, but also by shamans in the Himalayas. The sound of the trumpet is said to appease the wrathful deities. The presence of the thighbone in the hair of this Brahmanrupa identifies him as a Brahman ascetic.
A comparable brass image of Brahmanrupa Mahakala attributed to Tibet, 17th century, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2007.1).
