Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (8)

Undated, Tibet, Yama, polychrome stone, 30 cm, photo: courtesy of Ulrich von Schroeder, 2011, Swayambhu Buddhist Museum (Nepal).

17th-18th century, Tibet, Yama, bronze, photo on wisdomlib, at the Patan Museum (Nepal).

Yama Dharmaraja (‘King of the Law’), a wrathful emanation of Manjushri, has a yaksha appearance, usually with a buffalo head (rarely with a human head), two arms, two legs. He stands on a prostrate buffalo crushing a female victim and may be flanked by his consort and twin sister, Yami. He is naked, adorned with bone jewellery, a chain with dharma wheel plate, and sometimes a garland of severed heads. In his Outer Form he stretches his arms out and holds a skull-tipped club or mace in his right hand and a lasso in the other. The Secret Form holds a jewel and a skull cup, the Inner form holds a flaying knife and a skull cup. On the first image he appears to hold a wheel in his right hand instead of having it on his breast plate.

Tibet, Yama and Yami (4)

Yama Dharmaraja, ‘King of the Law’, a wrathful emanation of Manjushri, is a dharmapala with a buffalo head with three eyes and flaming hair, who stands on a prostrate male buffalo. He has three forms: in the secret one, with a red body on paintings, he stands alone, holding a jewel and a skull cup; in the inner form, with a blue-black body on paintings, he also stands alone, with the right leg straight and the left one bent, holding a flaying knife in his right hand, with the arm outstretched (which differentiates him from Vajrabhairava in his sahaja form), and a skull cup in the other, before his heart.  In the outer form, with a red body on paintings, he is flanked by his sister and consort, Yami, always smaller than him, and he wields a skull-tipped club or mace in his right hand and a lasso in the other (see below). Yama Dharmaraja is one of a few ithyphallic deities in the Tibetan pantheon (the others are Vajrabhairava, Black Jambhala, and sometimes Ganapati).

16th-17th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt copper alloy, 23,2 cm, The Claude de Marteau Collection Part II, lot 33, 4th October 2023, Bonhams (Paris).

On this example, they stand on a buffalo with particularly large almond-shaped eyes, long horns, a thick mane with individually crafted curls, a realistic movement of the tail and the legs.

They are naked. He is adorned with a skull crown, bone jewellery, a garland of severed heads, and a cross belt with a dharma wheel plate at the front (his lasso and the female victim under the bull are missing). Yami wears a skull crown, bone ornaments, and holds a skull cup and a flaying knife.

Tibet, an enigmatic figure

8th-9th century, Central Tibet, Yar lung Dynasty, Yama the lord of Death, copper with traces of gilding, remains of cold gold and blue pigment, 21,5 cm, Jokhang/ gTsug Lakhang Collection in Lhasa, inventory nº 31, photo and details on Ulrich von Schroeder (Attributed to Choying Dorje, 17th century, Tibet, Figure on a cow/Avalokiteshvara, by Ian Alsop ).

We saw it before in a post on Yama but it deserves one on its own, with more information.

This figure with a peaceful appearance, his hair gathered on one side and dyed with blue mineral pigment, holds a rosary and a flower – yet, the bare chest, the nearly total absence of princely ornaments, and the short loin cloth don’t seem fit for a bodhisattva. On the other hand, the rare examples of Yama with a human appearance seated on a male buffalo seen in previous posts showed him with a wrathful countenance and red hair. Another puzzling element is the animal with odd proportions, some barely visible horns going downwards, and a few leaves or blades of grass in its mouth, which looks more like a cow than the male buffalo on which some wrathful deities sit or stand. For Ulrich von Schroeder, who has seen it and photographed it (see 108 Buddhist Statues in Tibet ), this ancient work inspired the tenth Karmapa (1604-1674) when making, in his own unique style, several sculptures depicting Avalokiteshvara seated on a cow (we saw one on Metropolitan Museum of Art and another on Jokhang Sculptures, both with a puffy, Tang-Dynasty style face, a long Kashmiri-style dhoti, huge floral earrings, the full set of princely jewellery, an effigy of Amitabha among his matted locks of hair, a large lotus in the right hand, a water pot in the other – totally different from the above character.

Tibet, Yama and Yami (3)

15th century, Tibet, Yama and Yami, stone, 20 cm, private collection, Indian & Southeast Asian Art lot 123, 20th September 2006, Christie’s.

Standing on prostrate male buffalo crushing a female victim, buffalo-headed Yama Dharmaraja holds a (broken) skull-tipped club and a lasso with both arms stretched. Yami, his sister and consort, crouches before him holding a skull cup and a flaying knife. They are adorned with skull tiaras and bone jewellery, he wears a garland of severed heads and a cross belt with a dharma wheel, the same symbol adorns the buffalo’s back.

17th-18th century, Tibet, Yama and Yami (labelled ‘Yamantaka’), gilt bronze, 48 cm, at the National Museum of Art, photo Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC (USA).

Yama Dharmaraja, whose name means ‘King of dharma‘ is a dharmapala and one of very few ithyphallic figures in the Tibetan pantheon. The other two are Vajrabhairava (the buffalo-headed aspect of Yamantaka) and Black Jambhala. On rare occasions he has a human head.

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (8)

18th century, Tibeto-Chinese (Tibetan artist in China), Yama and Yami, gilt bronze and red pigment, private collection, photo on Christie’s .Yama, who has a buffalo head, is often accompanied by his sister and consort, Yami, much smaller than him. They usually stand with both feet on a prostrate male buffalo atop a female victim.

18th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze, cold gold, pigments, private collection, photo on De Baecque

Yama Dharmaraja alone,  wielding a (missing) skull-tipped club in his right hand and holding a (missing) lasso in the other, which corresponds to his “outer form”. He is naked and adorned with a  skull crown, a garland of severed heads, a celestial scarf, bone jewellery. He wears a distinctive cross-belt with a dharma wheel plate.

19th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze, red pigment, private collection, photo on Lempertz .

Although the base is missing, this rare figure with silver-inlaid eyes retains its skull-tipped club and folded lasso.

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (7)

16th-17th century, Tibet, Yama (Dharmaraja), bronze with traces of cold gold and polychromy, private collection, photo on Christie’s, Paris .

Yama dharmaraja in his ‘outer form’, with a buffalo head with three eyes, a sharp tongue and flaming hair, naked and ithyphallic, standing on a male buffalo, his arms extended, brandishing a (missing) skull-tipped stick in his right hand and holding a lasso in the other. He is adorned with bone jewellery, a five-skull crown, a garland of severed heads and a cross belt with a dharmacakra plate. The missing pedestal would have included a female victim crushed by the buffalo’s bent front leg.

18th century, Tibet (or Tibeto-Chinese?), Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze with (missing) stone inlay and pigment, private collection, photo on Galerie Zacke .   

18th century, Tibet, Yama and Yami, (painted) wood, private collection, photo on Antique Reader .

Yami, his sister and consort, may stands next to him, holding a skull cup and a flaying knife, the above holds a trident instead. (She is often missing, although a hole on the back of the animal indicates that she was originally part of the sculpture).

18th-19th century, Tibet, Yama with consort, gilt bronze, private collection, photo on Bonhams. Important Asian Art 15th November 2018 lot 26, Sydney (Australia).

The above is adorned with nothing but a long snake around his neck.

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (6)

16th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, Inner, stone, private collection, photo on Himalayan Art Resources

On rare occasions Yama Dharmaraja, protector of the buddhist faith, has a human head or a yaksha head, as on this remarkable stone stele. In his inner form he is always alone, has a blue-black body, stands with one leg bent (usually the left one) and the other straight, holds a flaying knife away from him in his right hand and a skull cup before his heart in the other.

18th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (labelled ‘Yamantaka’), gilt bronze, private collection, photo on Millon, 24th April 2019.

Often confused with Sahaja Vajrabhairava, the outer form of Yama Dharmaraja (also with a buffalo head and ithyphallic) stands on a prostrate male buffalo crushing a female victim, with both arms stretched. In all his forms, this dharmapala wears a three-skull or five-skull crown, a chain with a dharma wheel plate, bone ornaments, and may have a garland of severed heads round his neck.

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (5)

Undated, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt metal with pigment, private collection, photo on Himalayan Art Resources.

Circa 18th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze with silver inlay, private collection, photo  here .

18th century, Tibet (or Sino-Tibetan?), Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze (copper alloy), at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney (Australia) maas

In his ‘outer form’ Yama Dharmaraja stretches his arms out, brandishing a club tipped with a skull and a lasso (missing here). He stands on a male buffalo crushing a female victim and is adorned with bone jewellery, a cross belt with a wheel at the front and a three or five-skull crown. The hole on the back of the bull suggests that Yami was there too.

16th century, Tibet (or China?), Yama Dharmaraja, clay (or metal?), at the National Gallery in Prague (Czech Republic).

Yama Dharmaraja with Yami, his sister and consort.

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (4)

Always without consort, the inner form of Yama Dharmaraja stands on a prostrate male buffalo (usually crushing a male victim) and holds a flaying knife and a skull cup, the latter always held before his heart, he normally has the right arm stretched out.

17th-18th century, Tibet (or China?), Yama and attendants, bronze (copper alloy) with paint, at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg (Russia).

He may have a human head and be depicted with buffalo-headed attendants who stand on a prostrate bull, as he usually does. In this instance one of them wields a mace and holds a lasso, like his outer from, the other holds different attributes, possibly a skull cup and a jewel, like his secret form. They all wear a tiara with five skulls, the attendants have a garland of skulls around their neck, he has a garland of severed heads. 

Circa 18th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, wood with traces of polychromy, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s .

Cold gold has been used here to paint Yama Dharmaraja’s facial features and accessories and to highlight his ithyphallic nature.

18th century, Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze (copper alloy), private collection, photo on Sotheby’s .

The outer form of Yama holds both arms straight and has a skull-tipped mace or stick in his right hand and a lasso in the other. He stands on a buffalo who usually crushes a female victim. He is supposed to be with Yami, his sister and consort, but she is often missing, or lost, along with the male buffalo on which they stand. According to Sotheby’s, the above holds a bone trumpet.

18th century, Tibeto-Chinese (Tibetan artist in China), Yama Dharmaraja, gilt bronze, private collection, photo on Sotheby’s .

Tibet, Yama Dharmaraja (3)

15th century, Tibeto-Chinese, Yama, gilt copper alloy with pigments, private collection, photo by Rossi & Rossi.

Wrathful deities made by Tibetan artists for a Chinese patron often include heavy beaded jewellery with ornate festoons and pendants and matching accessories covering most of the subject’s body – concealing his ithyphallic nature. This photo is the wrong way round (see correct way round here), the right hand is always level with or much higher than the left one.

When the sculpture is complete, Yama normally stands on a male buffalo over a victim lying on a lotus pedestal. Apart from bone jewellery and accessories he wears a garland of severed heads. His skull crown may have three instead of five skulls.

18th century, Tibet, Yama (Dharmaraja), gilt bronze, private collection, photo on Christie’s

On this rare sculpture the buffalo, victim and pedestal are made of dark copper alloy, with traces of red pigment. On the HAR website, this photo is labelled ‘Mongolia’. This would explain the polychromy and the hairstyle (slanting sideways).

18th century, Tibet, Yama, gilt copper alloy, private collection, photo by Bonham’s and on HAR

He may wield a skull-tipped club or stick in his right hand and have a lasso in the other, his hand doing the corresponding wrathful gesture.

Known as karana mudra the gesture consists in the little finger and the forefinger being erect while the tip of the middle finger presses the tip of the thumb.

18th century, Tibet, Yama, solid gold, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (USA).