This 15.5″ Vajravarahi statue is partly fire gilded in 24K gold — the figure herself fully gilded, mounted within an elaborate oxidized mandorla of scrolling flames in deep red and gold, creating the visual effect of a golden Dakini emerging from a ring of fire. The combination is iconographically precise: Vajravarahi stands within the flames of pristine awareness, and the two-tone treatment of gilded figure against the darker mandorla makes this visual drama explicit in a way that a uniformly gilded piece does not. The statue was handcrafted in Patan, Nepal by master Newar artisans using the traditional lost wax sculpting method. Learn more about Vajravarahi’s iconography and symbolism in our complete Vajrayogini statues guide.
Vajravarahi is the wrathful emanation of Vajrayogini — identifiable above all other Dakinis by the sow’s head (Skt: varahi) rising above her right ear, the feature from which she takes her name. The sow represents ignorance — specifically, the deepest form of ignorance that generates all other defilements and keeps beings bound in samsara. The sow’s head rising from her hair and being subdued signifies the uprooting of that ignorance at its very root, not merely its suppression. Together Vajrayogini and Vajravarahi are considered two forms of the same supreme Dakini of the Chakrasamvara cycle — Vajrayogini as the primary peaceful-to-semi-wrathful form, Vajravarahi as her fully wrathful manifestation. In Tibetan Buddhism both are regarded as among the highest Tantric deities, fully enlightened Buddhas in Dakini form, whose practices are considered particularly potent in the current age of degeneration when the obstacles to realization are especially powerful.
Masterpiece Vajravarahi Statue Features
In her right hand Vajravarahi wields the kartika (curved flaying knife), which severs ego and conceptual thought at the root. In her left hand she holds the kapala (skull cup) filled with blood — symbolizing the transmutation of ordinary experience into the nectar of bliss-wisdom. She wears the skin of a tiger around her waist and a crown of five skulls — representing the subjugation of the five aggregates of grasping and the transformation of the five poisons (greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and jealousy) into the five wisdoms. The khatvanga staff rests against her left shoulder, its triple skull finial representing release from the three worlds. She dances on a human corpse — representing the complete subjugation of negativity — in the dynamic Dakini stance, surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness that consume all neurotic states obstructing realization.
Authentic, Handmade in Nepal
Every statue and ritual item is handcrafted in Patan, Nepal, using traditional lost wax casting and comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by Nepal's Department of Archaeology, verifying its materials, technique, and origin.
