Painted Tibetan Mahakala Torgam Cabinet - 18thC

This beautiful Buddhist altar cabinet is painted with the wrathful deity of Mahakala. Mahakala was a fearsome Tibetan Buddhist deity identifiable by his three eyes and flaming eyebrows and beard. He could also be used to assist a journey to enlightenment through meditation by helping practitioners overcome spiritual obstacles and negative emotions. With specific offerings, he would protect a family or village.

Mahakala is framed by two eight severed heads. These represent the severance of the eight 'earthly dharmas' - gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, fame and ignominy.

Either side of the cupboard is decorated with old faded thangkas and the interior has a large centerpiece Buddha thangka, all dating to the early 20^th century. The cabinet shows signs of repainting in the 19^th century with some late 20^th century repairs to the legs. The cabinet itself dates to the 18^th century. 

This is one of the most naive examples of Tibetan torgam we've seen. Torgams (or torkham as they were sometime called) were used for the storage of torma. Smaller torgam like this would have been privately owned and used to house torma, offering sculptures made from butter and barley flour. Torma offerings were most commonly made during Losar celebrations at Tibetan New Year. 

Original antique Tibetan cabinets are now very rare and there are many reproduction pieces made in China coming onto the market.

A similar example can be found in Auspicious by Design by Corona (Plate 73)

Dimensions:

59 x 27 x 89 cm ( wxdxh cms)

From Tibet

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