This 11.5″ Yamantaka statue is fully fire gilded in 24K gold throughout — figures, flame mandorla, and lotus throne in a unified golden surface — with all faces hand painted in the ferocious detail the iconometric standards of the Yamantaka tradition require. The crowns and jewelry can be additionally embellished with turquoise and red coral stones at no extra charge before shipping. The statue was handcrafted in Patan, Nepal by master Newar artisans using the traditional lost wax sculpting method, with fine hand-carved detail visible throughout the extraordinarily complex multi-armed, multi-faced composition.
Yamantaka — the wrathful embodiment of Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom — appeared with the head of a water buffalo and eight additional ferocious faces to defeat Yama, the Lord of Death, in a form more terrifying than death itself. At the crown of his nine faces, Manjushri’s own serene face is always present, the reminder that the ferocious outer form is wisdom in its most uncompromising expression. His 32 arms each hold a specific weapon or implement directed against a distinct form of death, delusion, or karmic obstruction — the complete arsenal of enlightened awareness deployed against every manifestation of the forces that drive beings through cyclic existence. His 16 legs trample on a specific assembly beneath him: eight birds representing the lords of the eight directions — the directional guardians whose ordinary functions are transcended and transformed by his practice — and eight animals representing the different categories of harmful force, karmic obstruction, and deluded energy that obstruct practitioners at every level of the path. The complete assembly trampled beneath his 16 feet represents the total field of opposition to realization, subdued without exception. Learn more about the origins of Yamantaka.
Yamantaka Statue Features
The statue depicts Yamantaka in his complete 9-faced, 32-armed, 16-legged form standing within the flame mandorla of pristine awareness on an oval lotus throne, the full iconographic assembly of the Destroyer of Death rendered in the unified bright gold of the fully fire gilded finish. The hand painted faces — rendered with the genuinely ferocious expression that the tradition requires — give the composition its psychological force: this is not a decorative object but a practice support intended to confront the practitioner with the most radical possible expression of awakened awareness in its wrathful mode.
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.
