The Image of the Six-armed Mahakala and His Retinue in the Text «The Ritual of Propitiation and the Offering of the Torma for the Swift-Acting Wisdom Protector, the Six-armed Mahakala»

Introduction. This article deals with the analysis of a ritual text devoted to the Six-Armed Mahakala. Mahakala is one of the most powerful protectors of Tibetan Buddhism. The article gives a description of the Six-Armed Mahakala and his retinue and discusses the structure of the ritual text rendering its content and describing the rules and the sequence of acts in propitiating the deity. It is pointed out that the text is a compilation and some of the original authors are identified whose works were used in the ritual text signed by Khedrup Je. Also, the text is most voluminous and includes the discussions of a great number of other pertinent rituals. The aim of the present paper is the discussion and the interpretation of the image and attributes of the Six-Armed Mahakala based on a fragment of the text, translated and introduced for the academic community. Data and methods. The text “The Ritual of Propitiation ...” is used as the research material; the method employed is descriptive, complemented by methods of structural-semantic, conceptual, and contextual analysis. Results. The iconography of the deity contained in the text presents a description that includes a detailed explanation of some of the deity’s elements. This allows to reveal the wrathful character of the fierce Dharmapala and shows that all the elements, such as attributes, gowns, adornments, postures, and gestures have deep symbolic meanings associated with philosophical and religious ideas, as well as with the ethical norms of Buddhism. This preliminary research, including the structuring and the analysis of the text under study, indicates the relevance, as well as the urgency of further examination of the introduced material, granted that ritual texts are seen as helpful additional sources for the study of the Buddhist deities.

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