Mahakala Panjaranatha (Protector of the Tent)

Tibet

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 253

Mahakala is the principal destroyer of the bonds that tie us to spiritual ignorance. Here he plunges his flaying knife into the skull cup that simmers with a flaming sea of sense organs, and in the crook of his arms he holds a baton for summoning monks to assembly.

Mahakala Panjaranatha (Protector of the Tent), Steatite with color and gilding, Tibet

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Mahakala Panjaranatha (Protector of the Tent), Steatite with color and gilding, Tibet
Mahakala Panjaranatha (Protector of the Tent), Steatite with color and gilding, Tibet

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