Padmasambhava

INDIA, Sikkim, Namchi

The building of this statue was initiated by the Sikkimese government and supervised by Kyabe Dodrupchen Rinpoche. Padmasambhava is credited with the region’s conversion to Vajrayana Buddhism and the prophecy of its future independent statehood. The foundation stone was laid by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1997 and the work took most of three years to complete. It is currently considered as the world’s largest statue of Padmasambhava, although this is sometimes disputed. The figure itself is 36 m high, but its deep base elevates it to 45 m. This exceeds the next highest statue of this figure at Rewalsar Lake in Himchal Pradesh.
The figure has overlapping booted feet. The right hand grasps a vajra, while the left hand rests on the lap and holds a skull-cup that supports the vase of longevity. A trident on which three heads are impaled rests on the left shoulder. Padmasambhava wears a lotus cap studded with precious stones, from which buoyant ribbons descend on either side; he also wears a jeweled ornament across the chest. The round lotus seat is surrounded by a square balcony upheld on a base decorated with small Dharma wheels and two huge snow lions. This rises from a circumambulation platform on the roof of the visitors’ center.