Nepal, Hevajra (4)

15th-16th century, Nepal, Hevajra, gilt copper, 15,9 cm, private collection, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art lot 504, 20th March 2024, Christie’s

Dated 1768 AD, Nepal, Hevajra and Nairatma, gilt copper, 29 cm, private collection, photo on Lost Arts of Nepal

16th-17th century, Nepal, labelled ‘Sahaja Hevajra’, bronze, 20,8 cm, private collection, Indian and Himalayan Art lot 835, 21st March 2024, Sotheby’s

Unlike Sahaja Hevajra, who has one head and two hands in which he holds skull cups, the above has six heads (but probably had a seventh on top), four legs, and four arms, the two broken ones would have embraced his consort now missing. This iconography doesn’t match any form of Hevajra seen so far and the flaying knife in his upper right hand is not one of Hevajra’s usual attributes. This is perhaps a form of the deity specific to Nepal?

Nepal, Hevajra with consort (5)

15th century, Nepal, Hevajra, gilt copper alloy, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s, Hong Kong

Guhyasamaja Hevajra in his kapaladhara form (skull-cup holder), with 8 heads, 16 hands, 4 legs, in amorous union with Vajranairatmya, who has one leg around his waist. He stands in a dancing posture on a one-head and a three-head victim atop a lotus base. She holds a vajra-handled flaying knife and a skull cup, he holds skull cups containing animals and deities. They are adorned with the usual wrathful ornaments, including a garland of severed heads for him and a garland of skulls for her.

Another two small figures are crouching behind them. 

16th century, Nepal, Hevajra and consort, gilt copper, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s

In his rarer shastradhara (‘weapon holder’) form he holds peaceful and wrathful implements. His main hands are crossed behind the back of his consort and hold a vajra sceptre and a vajra bell. In his right hand he usually has a hook (elephant goad), a trident, a bowl (a drum in this case), a staff, a solar wheel, an arrow, a sword or knife. The left hands typically clutch a noose or a lasso, a skull cup, a bunch of jewels, a ritual staff, a bow, a lotus, one hand (the second one from the top here) makes a wrathful gesture. His heads are arranged in a circle of seven plus Bhairava’s head at the top.

Circa 16th century, Nepal, Hevajra and Nairatmya, gilt copper repoussé, private collection, photo on HAR

Sahaja Hevajra is identified by the two skull cups he holds in his hands crossed over his consort’s back. He always has one head, usually with three eyes, two arms, and two legs. She holds a skull cup and a flaying knife.

Nepal, Hevajra with consort (4)

17th century, Tibet (or Nepal?), Hevajra and consort, bronze (with cold gold and pigment), item 82.323 at the National Museum in New Delhi (India).

Hradya Hevajra always stands in embrace with his consort. He has seven heads plus Bhairava’s on top, four legs, sixteen hands. One of them makes a wrathful gesture, his main hands hold a vajra sceptre and a vajra bell across Nairatmya’s back, the remaining hands hold a hook, two tridents trident, an arrow, a skull cup, a solar wheel, a club, a sword (broken here), a noose, a skull cup, a jewel, a bow, a lotus. He stands on four demons, in this case on a lotus base typical of the late Malla period. 

His consort holds a skull cup (not visible here) and a flaying knife.

16th century, Nepal, Hevajra, metal (gilt copper alloy with clear gems, turquoise, pearls, and pigment), photo on Himalayan Art Resources .

This shastradhara form is very similar except for the ritual staff instead of a second trident. Following the Nepalese iconography, his main hands hold a vajra sceptre and a vajra bell, the remaining right hands hold, from top to bottom, a hook (elephant goad), a trident, a crescent-shaped bowl, a club, a solar wheel, an arrow, a sword. The second left hand from the top makes a wrathful gesture, the others hold a noose, a skull cup, a bunch of jewels, a ritual staff, a bow, a lotus flower.

Nepal, Hevajra with consort (3)

15th century, Nepal, Hevajra, metal (copper or copper alloy), photo on HAR .

Guhyasamaja Hevajra with eight heads (seven plus one, each with three eyes), sixteen arms, and four legs, in embrace with his consort, with eight skull cups containing animals (horse, donkey, bull, camel, elephant, sharabha, cat or owl, and a human) in his right hands, and another eight containing Hindu gods (of water, fire, air, the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, death, wealth) in the left ones. The animals represent diseases that he can eradicate, the gods represent powers that he embodies. Vajranairatmya holds a flaying knife and a skull cup.

16th century, Nepal, Hevajra Kapaladhara and Nairatmya, gilt bronze, private collection, photo on Christie’s .

They may stand on four maras, or on Shiva and Brahma as above (the latter recognisable through his four heads), with Vishnu and Indra seated at the back (with one of their hands raised to support his dangling foot, as pointed out by Christie’s expert).

15th century, Nepal, Hevajra, gilt copper alloy, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s, Paris .

Circa 17th century, Nepal, Hevajra, bronze, 12,8 cm, private collection, International Decorative Arts lot 467, 29th August 2017, Mossgreen.

This popular form is known as kapaladhara (‘skull-cup bearer’).

16th century, Hevajra, gilt bronze, 29 cm, dated by inscription to 1531, private collection, auction 9474 lot 149, 20th September 2000, Christie’s.

Still with his consort, but in his shastradhara (weapon bearer) form, with the same Hindu gods under his feet and behind him. In his main hands he holds a vajra sceptre and a vajra bell. The second left hand from the top makes a threatening gesture (tarjani mudra), the remaining left hands hold a folded lasso, a skull cup, a flaming jewel, a (broken) ritual staff, a bow, a lotus. On the other side he holds a hook (elephant goad), a trident, a skull cup, a staff, a solar wheel, an arrow, a (broken) sword or knife.

Nepal, Hevajra with consort (2)

16th century, Nepal, Guhyasamaja Hevajra (labelled ‘Hrdaya Hevajra’), gilt bronze with pigment, private collection, photo by Andrew Lau for Hollywood Galleries on issuu .

A popular form of Hevajra, with eight heads (a circle of seven plus one), four legs, and sixteen arms, the main hands embracing Nairatmya, the others holding skull cups that contain animal and human figures related to the Hevajra Tantra text.

Circa 1600, Nepal, Hevajra and Nairatmya in ritual embrace, gilt bronze with pigments, 50,2 cm, at the Art Institute of Chicago (USA).

He is always depicted with his consort, Varjanairatmya.

18th century, Nepal, Hevajra, ivory, private collection, photo on cansart, Renaud Montméat.

The couple stands on four Hindu deities.

Nepal, Hevajra with consort

13th or 14th century, Nepal, Hevajra, gilt copper alloy, private collection, photo on Pundole’s

This meditational deity is usually depicted in embrace with a consort whose identity varies. He has several “eight-head and sixteen hand” forms, the most popular being Guhyasamaja Hevajara, who holds skull cups (kapaladhara aspect) containing animals in his right hands and skull cups containing deities in the other, his four legs standing on victims.

14th century, Nepal, Hevajra, bronze, photo on HARwith the mention: collection Rubin Museum of Art, accession number P2000.8.3 (not featured on the museum’s website).

His heads may be arranged in a circle of seven plus one on top (place with the face upwards in this case), topped with a visvajra.

His consort has one head and two hands, in which she holds a skull cup and a flaying knife. She usually has one leg around his waist.

16th century (circa 1531), Nepal, Shastradhara Hevajra, gilt copper with pigments, 29 cm, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (USA).

Popular in Nepal, the shastradhara form (holder of weapons) of Hevajra, in embrace with Nairatmya, has eight faces, four legs standing on two Hindu deities, and sixteen hands. In his main hands he holds a vajra sceptre and a bell across Nairatmya’s back, in the remaining right hands he holds a hook, a trident, a crescent moon, a lotus bud, a solar wheel. In the remaining left hands he holds a noose, a skull cup, a jewel, a ritual staff, a bow, a lotus flower, one of the upper hands seems to always remain empty and does a threatening gesture. On this occasion, another two gods of Hindu origin are seated on the pedestal, each holding one of his remaining feet.

Undated, probably Nepal, Hevajra, gilt metal, private collection, photo on HAR . Updated 09/05/22: now labelled ‘Nepal, 1400-1499’.

Same form of the deity as before. The heads are arranged in a row of seven semi-wrathful faces topped with a wrathful head, sometimes described as being Bhairava’s.

Nairatmya’s bone apron is made of pearls, with turquoise and red gem cabochons that form a floral pattern.

18th century, Nepal, Hevajra, gilt brass, 35,2 cm, photo on Images d’Art , nº MA3419 at the Musée Guimet in Paris (France).