Mon
bu pu tra
Distemper on cloth
Tibet
18th century
98.4 x 66.7 cm – 38 ¾ x 26 ¼ in
This
haunting and vivid painting represents Mon bu pu tra1,
the ‘King of the Body’ who resides in the
eastern quarter. He is not actually represented but must
be invoked by the practitioner through visualisation.
At
the centre of the thangka a black horse, the deity’s
mount2, gallops against a halo of smoky flames. The horse
is caparisoned with bejewelled straps and tassels, and
blankets and the flayed skin of a demon have been draped
across his back. Mon bu pu tra’s form is indicated
by the voluminous robes that he would have been wearing
and the distinctive cymbal-shaped hat (tipshu) hovering
above the void where his head would have been. Similarly,
a golden thunderbolt (dorje) and staff are suspended at
his sides indicating where they would have been held in
his right and left hands respectively.
Surrounding
the deity is a bizarre and macabre landscape of animals
and birds, offerings of blood, jewels and auspicious symbols,
weapons, tutelary deities and other emanations of Mon
bu pu tra.
His
shakti (the deity’s female form) is depicted on
his left side, white in colour and holding a skull cup
with a heart in it; his emanation as a monk who has conquered
the passions is depicted on his right side; and his emanation
as minister is shown on his lower right side, recognisable
by a snake turban and crystal thunderbolt and riding a
blue horse.
Along
the top of the painting, skulls, decapitated heads and
the flayed skins of animals and humans form a curtain
beneath which Garuda, with a serpent in his beak, and
other birds holding entrails in theirs, are flying.
Mon
bu pu tra belongs to the group of five deities or kings.
The other four are Pehar, Sakra, Shingjachen and Dralha.
They represent mind, body, virtue, speech and activity
– each are recognisable by their direction, vehicle
and colour. The Mon bu pu tra is said to be the special
guardian of the Jokhang temple in Lhasa and is closely
associated with Sera monastery in Lhasa. He, or his minister,
are believed to take possession of a medium consulted
mainly by the authorities of Sera monastery and one of
the best known oracle priests in Tibet, who delivers a
prophecy concerning Tibet’s future once a year.
This
thangka belongs to a painting genre know as ‘assembly
of emblems’, and works such as this one would have
been used in chapels, where rites were preformed to invoke
protection. The absence of the actual embodiment of the
deity suggests his omnipresence, whose vast energies are
capable of appearing simultaneously in more than one place.
1.
Identified as such by Martin Brauen. Earlier research
had identified this figure as Pehar or ‘King of
Activity’. Both Mon bu pu tra and Pehar belong to
the same group of five deities who represent mind, body,
virtue, speech and activity.
2. Although he should wear a black dress
and ride a white lioness, these details are often changed
by the artists.
text
by by Leigh Miller-Sangster
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