Pelden Lhamo Dusolma “Smoke-Clad Goddess”

In this small gem of a painting the dark main deity is set against a horseshoe shaped halo of whirling flames. The agitated movement of this wrathful goddess contrasts with the rather static profile depiction of her mount. Remarkable is the patterning of the human skin that forms her saddle, the elephant skin flayed behind her, and her clothing, which appears to be an abstraction of wickerwork. Most telling in terms of attribution are the high, flat hair knot and the long and slim triangular ornaments seen in the crown and the bracelets. The yellow border and the dark-blue background featuring large blossoms are characteristic of the period. In this early representation of Palden Lhamo peaceful and wrathful features are combined. While her facial expression is extremely wrathful, with fangs in her mouth, the goddess wears a dhoti and also jewelry. The goddess has four arms and brandishes a sword and a tantric staff in her upper hands and a skull cup and a staff with a peacock feather in her lower ones. She sits sideways on her mount, and her legs are chained together. Her saddle is a human skin. She likely represents a form of the “smoke-clad” goddess Dusolma, although she does not possess all of the characteristics found in textual descriptions of that goddess.