Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Ganden Monastery... sculptures



The fellow with the blue bull's head is a protector deity named Dorje Jigje, and he is seen all over this monastery, as he is the favourite protector of the Gelugpa order, of which Ganden is the head monastery. A wrathful form of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, he is also known as the destoyer of Yama, the Lord of Death. He is blue with eight heads, the main one of which is a bull. He wears a garland of skulls around his neck and a belt of skulls around his waist, and holds a skull goblet and a flaying knife in two of his 34 arms. He tramples on eight Hindu gods, eight mammals and eight birds under his 16 feet.
The figure on the horse is another protector deity more specific to Ganden itself...
Food for thought.........

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