Tibet, Hayagriva (5)

18th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, gilt bronze with pigment, 12,7 cm, private collection, Auction M0009, The Art of the Himalayas lot 83, Pundole’s

The dharmapala Hayagriva is identified by the neighing horse’s head at the top of his flaming hair. On paintings he has a red or a black body. The position of his right hand suggests that this is the black form, who wields a sword in his right hand and has a hook in the other. He stands on two victims (who represent enemies and hindrance), adorned with snakes, a five-skull crown, a garland of severed heads.

Apart from the usual tiger skin loin cloth worn by wrathful deities, he has the hide of an elephant and a flayed human skin over his back.

18th century, Tibet (or Nepal?), Hayagriva, wood with paint, 35 cm, private collection, Auction 18 lot 27, 30th September 2023, Hardt

Red Hayagriva in his two-arm form, brandishing a club in his right hand and a lotus in the other, which corresponds to the Nepalese iconography (we saw a similar Vajravarahi from a monastry in Mustang, Nepal, on Theodore Bruce ). There is a horse’s head on his own and he has the wings of an heruka.

Tibet, Hayagriva – alone (10)

Circa 17th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, gilt copper alloy with silver and turquoise inlay, pigment, 10 cm, The Triay Collection of Himalayan Art, lot 150, 15th December 2022, Bonhams (Paris).

The neighing horse’s head emerging form his flaming hair (see close up on above link) identifies this irate figure with a yaksha appearance as Hayagriva, a dharmapala, one of the eight-pronouncement herukas (the speech aspect of all buddhas), and a tantric meditational deity invoked to cure diseases such as leprosy. Originally a man with a horse head in the Hindu religion, he was incorporated in the Mahayana pantheon around the 6th century as a wrathful deity who removes obstacles (krodha vighnantaka), and as such became an assistant of Avalokiteshvara. The flaming sword in his right hand and the elephant goad (vajra hook) in the other further identify him as Black Hayagriva (with a blue-black body on paintings). He stands on two victims (who represent enemies and hindrance) and wears a silk cloak and a human hide on his back, a five-skull crown, a garland of severed heads, a tiger skin loin cloth, snake ornaments.

Tibet, a singular Hayagriva (2)

[Originally thought to be] 7th-8th century, Central Tibet, Yarlung Dynasty, Hayagriva, copper with cold gold and pigment, 20,5 cm, on Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet Volume 2, p. 759 pl. 177, by Ulrich von Schroeder, Visual Dharma Publications (Hong Kong), photo on HAR(dated 1600-1699), Potala Collection inventory nº 898, at the Lima Lakhang, Lhasa (Tibet).

Update 01/11/23: this image is now attributed to the tenth Karmapa, Choying Dorje, and therefore definitely 17th century.

An unusual image of Hayagriva – identified by the horse’s head on his red flaming hair – holding a scorpion on the back of his left hand and the hilt of a (broken) sword in the other. His tight-fitting tiger skin loin cloth is held in place with a large snake tied at the front.

Tibet, Hayagriva alone (8)

16th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, bronze, private collection, Asian Art lot 84, 6th December 2013, Lempertz.

Hayagriva, dharmapala, heruka, and meditational deity, is depicted here with a wrathful yaksha appearance, with three eyes and a neighing horse’s head on his own, standing on two victims who represent enemies and hindrance, brandishing a sword in his right hand and holding a hook in the other. He is adorned with a skull crown, a garland of skulls, and snakes. On paintings this form has a black body and wears a black silk cloak, hence the unusual long-sleeve garment on this example.

Undated, Tibet, Hayagriva, (copper alloy with cold gold and pigments), private collection, published in Sattvas & Rajas: the culture and art of Tibetan Buddhism, photo on HAR

Red Hayagriva, standing on a tall Pala-style lotus pedestal, wielding a skull-tipped club in his right hand, the left hand making a wrathful gesture to ward off evil and holding a folded serpentine lasso. There is a neighing horse’s head in his flaming hair bunch and a tiger skin around his waist. He is adorned with a low tiara, earrings, and snakes.

Undated, Tibet, Red Hayagriva, metal, private collection, photo on HAR

The same form, with a human appearance, his club now lost. He wears the hide of a tiger on top of a skirt-like garment decorated with incised motifs.

18th century, Tibet (or Tibeto-Chinese?), Hayagriva, bronze, private collection, Fine Art lot 84, 7th March 2014, Auctionata Paddle8 AG.

With three heads, each with three eyes and three neighing horses’ heads, six arms, six legs trampling on nagas.

Tibet, Hayagriva – various forms

18th century, Tibet (or  China?), Hayagriva, gilt bronze with pigments, at the Museo d’Arte Orientale in Turin (Italy).

Red Hayagriva with three heads, six arms, and eight legs trampling eight nagas, his flaming hair adorned with three neighing horses’ heads. Apart from the usual wrathful ornaments, he wears a tiger skin around his waist, a human hide and an elephant hide on his back, and has a sacred cord made of human hair (or a snake in this case?). There is a vajra sceptre in his upper right hand, the hilt of a (missing) sword in the lower one, his other attributes were probably a spear, a lasso of intestines, a ritual staff, one of his hands makes a wrathful gesture.

18th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, gilt bronze, photo by Sailko on wikimedia, at the Musée Guimet in Paris (France).

We saw this work before but the photograph was so dark you could barely see anything. Hayagriva is depicted with three heads, six arms, and four legs, stepping to the right on a demon, in embrace with his consort, who holds a skull cup in her left hand and probably a flower in the other. They are adorned with skull crowns, bone jewellery, a garland of severed heads for him, a garland of skulls for her. He has a flower and a skull cup in his main hands, in which case the remaining attributes usually are a hook, a club, a noose, a sword. This form of Hayagriva, with a red body on paintings, normally has wings. 

Undated, Tibet, Hayagriva (labelled ‘Mahakala’), copper alloy with pigment, private collection, photo by Bonhams, June 2021, Asian Decorative Works of Art lot 475.

Hayagriva, identified by the horse’s head in his flaming hair, in his one-head and two-arm form, holding a skull-tipped club in his right hand and making a wrathful gesture with the other. This form also has a red body on paintings. We saw a similar sculpture (labelled ‘Yama’) on Tibet Museum 

Tibet, a singular Hayagriva

16th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, gilt bronze with silver and stone inlay, private collection, photo on Hardt .

This masterpiece depicts Hayagriva, identified by the horse’s head on top of his own, half crouching and half kneeling (like some forms of Achala) instead of standing in a warrior pose as usual. He is clad in a tiger skin loin cloth and adorned with a skull crown, a cross-belt, and princely jewellery. His right hand makes the fear-allaying gesture, the club or mace in the other is associated with Red Hayagriva, who would normally hold it in his right hand while making a threatening gesture with the other. His three eyes are inlaid with silver.

Tibet, Hayagriva (3)

14th century, Tibet, Hayagriva and consort, bronze (and missing stones), private collection, photo on Lempertz .

This rare sculpture depicts Red Hayagriva in his ‘Very Secret Accomplishment’ form. He has three heads, each with three eyes, six arms – two of them embracing the consort (who has a leg around his waist and probably holds a flower and a skull cup), two wings, and four legs crushing a victim on the lotus base. His hair is pulled together and topped with a large horse’s head. His main hands hold a flower and a skull cup, the remaining right hands hold a hook (elephant goad) and a club, the left ones what may be a noose, and a sword (this iconography corresponds to the Gelugpa order). They are adorned with skull crowns, bone and snake jewellery, he wears a tiger skin dhoti knotted at the front, we can see the legs of the animal dangling between his.

17th century, Tibet (or Tibeto-Chinese?), Hayagriva, bronze, item 1970.364.23 at the Cantor Arts Center in Stanford (USA).

A Chinese-style Red Hayagriva in his ‘Secret Accomplishment’ form, alone, with three heads (each with three eyes, flaming hair, and the head of a neighing horse), six arms, eight legs treading on eight snakes, no wings, adorned with skull crowns, bone and snake ornaments, a garland of severed heads, a cross-belt with a wheel of dharma, and a floating scarf. He wears a tiger skin dhoti and a has a human hide on his back. There is a vajra sceptre in his upper right hands, the missing attributes are likely to be a spear, a lasso of intestines, a sword, a ritual staff, the sixth hand usually makes a wrathful gesture.

18th century, Tibeto-Chinese, Hayagriva, gilt copper alloy and pigment, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s .

The same form, made by a Tibetan artist in China. He still has the hilt of a sword in his lower left hand.

Tibet, Hayagriva – human form

16th century, Tibet, Red Hayagriva? (labelled ‘lokapala’), gilt copper repoussé, private collection, photo (the other way round) on Asium .

This figure in Mongolian armour and felt boots wears a tiara with a horse’s head at the front (see close up on the above link). He brandishes a skull-tipped stick in his right hand and holds a noose in his left hand while making a wrathful gesture. There is a  similar character without a visible horse’s head in his headdress on aaoarts . Hayagriva normally has a yaksha appearance but on occasions he has a human one.

Tibet, Hayagriva (2)

16th-17th century, Tibet, Hayagriva (labelled ‘Yama’), brass with cold gold and pigment, photo on Fondation, at the Tibet Museum in Gruyères (Switzerland).

Hayagriva, identified by the horse’s head in his flaming hair, with one head and two arms, alone, holding a skull-tipped stick in his right hand near his head and doing a wrathful gesture with his left hand at chest level. He wears a loin cloth, a skull tiara, plain jewellery and a sacred thread worn over the right shoulder. This form of the deity has a yaksha appearance, and a red body on paintings.

17th century, Tibet, Black Hayagriva, gilt metal with paint, private collection, photo on Himalayan Art Resources.

Black Hayagriva, in his one-head and two-arm form, brandishes a sword (broken here) in his right hand and normally holds a hook, an axe or a lasso in the other. He wears a tiger skin loin cloth, a silk cloak, a human hide over his back, snake ornaments, a skull crown, a garland of severed heads. He may have three horses’ heads or just one in his hair.

12th-13th century, Tibet, Hayagriva, copper alloy with cold gold and pigments, photo on AKG Images , at the Tibet Museum in Lhasa (Tibet).

Red Hayagriva in his ‘secret accomplishment’ form. Always alone, he has three heads, each topped with the head of a neighing horse (or a single horse’s head at the top in this case), six arms, six or eight legs trampling on nagas. He has a human hide and an elephant hide on his back, a tiger skin loin cloth, a skull crown, a garland of severed heads, snake ornaments, a sacred cord made of human hair. His attributes are a vajra sceptre (top right hand), a spear, a ritual staff, a sword, a lasso of intestine, and one of his hands makes a wrathful gesture and may hold some flames but the above has a vajra bell in his upper left hand.

15th century, Tibet, Sonam Gyaltsen & Atelier, Red Hayagriva, gilt metal with painted face and hair, private collection, photo on HAR .

On this example with eight legs, the sword is in the top right hand, the vajra sceptre in the middle one, a spear is missing from the lower hand. He holds a lasso of intestine in his upper left hand, a ritual staff in the next one down, his main left hand makes a wrathful gesture.

16th century, Tibet, Hayagriva (and consort), metal (copper alloy) with cold gold and pigments, private collection, photo on Himalayan Art Resources .

Hayagriva with three heads, each with three eyes and topped with a horse’s head, in embrace with his consort, Vajravarahi. He holds a flayed human skin stretched across his back, a sword, a spear, a skull cup, and possibly a vajra sceptre. Her long bone apron with bells at the bottom reaches the base; they are supposed to be standing on nagas.

Tibet, Hayagriva alone (7)

13th century, (Tibet?), Hayagriva, copper alloy with cold gold and pigment, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s, Hong Kong.

With one head adorned with a five-skull crown and topped with a horse’s head, two hands, two legs, this Hayagriva wields a skull-tipped mace in his right hand and holds a skull cup in the other. He is clad in a tiger skin loin cloth, the head of the animal ‘devouring’ his bent knee, and wears a Chinese-style celestial scarf with serpentine ends.

17th century, Tibet or Mongolia, Hayagriva, gilt bronze and red pigment, at the Baltimore Museum of Art (USA).

Red Hayagriva with three heads, each one with three eyes and a skull crown, six hands and six or eight legs trampling on (missing) nagas, identified by the three neighing horse’s heads in his flaming hair. He wears a tiger skin loin cloth, a human hide and an elephant hide on his back, a garland of severed heads, bone jewellery, a sacred cord made of human hair. There is a vajra sceptre in his upper right hand, the upper left one does the karana mudra, his other attributes now lost would have been a staff, a sword, a spear, a lasso.

18th century, Tibet, Hayagriva (labelled ‘Mahakala’), bronze (copper alloy with cold gold and pigment), private collection, photo on Tessier-Sarrou.

The hilt of a sword in the middle right hand is all that remains in this case.