figure (ritual & belief: representations)

Painted sacred clay figure depicting a dharmapala, a defender of the law or wrathful deity. The legs are folded sideways, the sole of the left foot facing forwards, that of the right foot facing left. The figure appears to be crowned with five skulls, the left arm hangs to the side and the right is held diagonally upwards across the chest. Crudely made. Inscription reads 'Nyi ma 'od zer' [rays of sun].

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

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