The guardian Pehar with offerings

Pehar’s name probably derives from the Sanskrit word for monastery, vihara, where this deity’s origin story declares that his first Tibetan image was found. Indeed, there are five Pehars, and they are the subject of this painting. Here, however, the five are invisible, with only their domelike red hats and the animals they ride to reveal their presence: these are a white elephant in the center flanked by two lions and two mules. Around the five invisible Pehars appears a panoply of offering substances; adepts and other religious figures appear in their midst.

Pehar may be one of Tibet’s most well-traveled guardian deities. According to legend, the sculpture that embodied him was first installed in a temple in Zahor or Bengal, the legendary birthplace of Padmasambhava, who is credited with taming almost all guardians. Many adventures took Pehar from monastery to monastery. Now he is thought to reside at Nechung Monastery in Tibet, where his presence is channeled by the state oracle of Tibet.