Nepal Mahakaala : Nepal  

Nepal Mahakaala - Travel guide

Nepal

Mahakaala

One of the highly fascinating Vajrayana Buddhist deities. In art forms the deity is portrayed as dark, dwarfed and big bellied, with a mukuta or headdress with skulls set in and a garland of human heads. He holds a Kurtri (flaying knife) in his right hand and a kapala (a skull cup) on the other. He has three eyes, opened wide giving him a fierce look, and teeth dripping blood. He wears tiger skin as girdle and snakes as various ornaments. Though he looks fierce, he is said to be very kind hearted. According to Sadhanmala, a very old Buddhist text, the number of arms and heads Mahakaala would have depended on the nature of purpose he was called for. He could have one face with two, four or six arms or even eight faces with sixteen arms. It is popularly believed that his fierce look is not to scare every other person but to scare away evil.