Mahakala
Wood
Mahakala
JAPAN; Nanbokucho period
This Japanese Mahakala is different from the wrathful Vajrayana Buddhist version. As a wealth deity, Mahakala carries a large rice sack over the left shoulder and a small golden mallet in the right hand. Prosperously dressed and wearing a shawl and conical hat, the plump and smiling figure strides forward over packed rice bales. The figure has sturdy shoes with a protective covering running up the shins to the pantaloons. The original paint is almost completely lost, with only gilded traces of jeweled decorations left.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M, page 653.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Mahakala." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M, vol. 11, 2016, pp. 653.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Yann Lovelock, Yuan Chou, Susan Huntington, Gary Edson, and Robert Neather. 2016. "Mahakala" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M, 11:653.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Lovelock, Y., Chou, Y., Huntington, S., Edson, G., & Neather, R.. (2016). Mahakala. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M (Vol. 11, pp. 653).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M},
pages = 653,
title = {{Mahakala}},
volume = 11,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture G-M},
pages = 653,
title = {{Mahakala}},
volume = 11,
year = {2016}}