This 14.5″ Megh Sambara statue is fully fire gilded in 24K gold with turquoise and red coral stones embedded throughout the crown and jewelry of both figures — the blue-green of the turquoise and deep red of the coral already installed as part of the finished piece, reflecting the Newar artisan tradition of completing the statue in its fully adorned ceremonial state before delivery. The sculpture depicts Megh Sambara — the form of Yamantaka (Vajrabhairava, Wrathful Manjushri) as known in the Nepali Newar tradition — in yab-yum embrace with his consort Vetali, enclosed within an elaborate flame mandorla. At 14.5″ this is the largest and most formally complete Yamantaka in the Golden Buddha collection, suitable as the principal wrathful yidam figure on a dedicated Tantric practice altar. The sculpture was handcrafted in Patan, Nepal by master Newar artisans using the traditional lost wax sculpting method with fine hand-carved detail throughout the extraordinarily complex multi-armed, multi-faced composition.
Vetali (Sanskrit: Vetālī — “She who raises the dead”; Tibetan: Ro-lang-ma) is Yamantaka’s wisdom consort — one of the eight astamataras associated with charnel ground practice in the Vajrabhairava cycle. Her presence in the yab-yum composition expresses the same principle found across all highest yoga tantra yab-yum depictions: method (the male principle of compassionate engagement) and wisdom (the female principle of direct realization of emptiness) are not separate qualities that combine to produce enlightenment but a single non-dual reality whose inseparability is the ground state of full Buddhahood. Vetali’s specific association with the dead and with charnel grounds reflects the Yamantaka tradition’s confrontation with death as its primary practice context — she is the feminine aspect of the awareness that is not extinguished by death and not disturbed by its presence. Learn more about Yamantaka’s iconography and practice.
Megh Sambara Statue Features
Yamantaka is depicted in his complete multi-faced, multi-armed form: 9 faces including the primary buffalo head and Manjushri’s serene golden face at the crown, many arms each holding specific weapons and ritual implements directed against the forces of death and delusion, and 16 legs trampling on the corpses of negativity and subjugated forces beneath him — all enclosed within the flame mandorla of pristine awareness on an oval lotus throne. The fully gilded surface with embedded turquoise and coral stones gives the composition the richly adorned, luminous quality of the most formally complete and ceremonially significant Yamantaka presentation in the collection.
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.
