Padmāntaka

Abstract

The article offers an overview of the iconography of Padmāntaka — a deity who is one of the ‘Ten Wrathful Kings’ protecting the boundaries of sacred space — across various artistic and religious contexts. It describes the iconographic variants of this figure prevalent in the Indo-Himalayan and Central Asian regions, ranging from early fifteenth-century images in the Newar monastic complex of Chuṣya Bāhā in Kathmandu to xylographic illustrations in the Mongolian Kanjur from the early eighteenth century, as well as in the maṇḍalas documented in the Sanskrit treatise Niṣpannayogāvalī. These sources demonstrate the diversity of regional artistic traditions spanning Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia. The article briefly highlights the key features of the deity’s nine iconographic forms (bearing from two to eight arms), the number of his faces, the distribution of sacred attributes in his right and left hands, as well as his ritual postures and the symbolism of the objects held. The study is based on extensive historical and iconographic material, including classical Buddhist texts, block-print collections, descriptions of Buddhist maṇḍalas, and contemporary research on Eastern iconography and Buddhist art. The data presented can be utilised for the precise attribution and interpretation of images of Padmantaka, as well as for studying the evolution of wrathful deities in the art of Northern Buddhism. The scholarly translation and commentary on Lokesh Chandra’s article from the Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography were prepared by S.M. Belokurova.