Mahakala

Originally the epithet of the Hindu god Lord Shiva Mahakala emerged in later Buddhism as one of the eight ‘Dharmapalas’. Not many, Mahakala has independent shrines dedicated to him. The deity is more popular among Sakyapalas, the followers of Sakya order. Often a frontispiece on a lintel Mahakala is believed to guard the door from everything untoward. From the 11th century onwards, after the known Buddhist teacher Atisha Dipankara envisioned his two forms for worship, Mahakala emerged as a more popular deity. The icons of Mahakala usually have a plump, dwarfish rotund body, square face with open mouth displaying gnashing teeth and a menacing appearance. He shares many personality traits and attributes – a third eye, skull-garland, enemy figure under his feet, snakes around his body, abode in cremation ground … with his prototype who is Shiva. He is holding in his left hand an urn containing Buddha’s relics as he alone was beyond time.