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06. Mahākāla, महाकाल, Mahābala, Gur gyi mgon po or Mgon-po.  | Documents and Pictures

Mahakala or the Great Solitary One has body blue-black in colour, dark like the end of time, with three round red eyes, quickly glancing, a radiant face with bared fangs, tongue lolling, flames for eyebrows and a beard of hooks. Mahakala might be seen with and two, four arms or six arms, he is the wrathful form of the gentle and compassionate Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. When he has six arms, he is called Shadbhuja or mGon po phyag drug pa and his arms signify the successful completion of the six perfections (shad-paramita). When he has four arms, he is called Chatur-bhuja or mGon po phyag bzhi pa and represents the represent the four karmas. Sometimes he is called protector of the tents, and there is a white version of Mahakala named Shad-bhuja Sita or mGon po yid bzhin nor bu (his attributes are the sword, the trident and the scull cup). Mahakala is charged with the tasks of pacifying hindrances; enriching life, virtue, and wisdom; attracting people to Buddhism; and destroying confusion and ignorance. Mahākāla can often be seen with a half vajra adorning the crown of the head along with a snake tied in the hair. Often standing in the center of a lotus he also sometimes holds the ritual knife (kartrika) and skull cup (kapala), and a ritual baton (gandi) maybe resting in the crooks of his arms (used to reprimand, underscoring the role of Mahakala as the god of justice, who governs the oath and watches over the fulfilment of vows and promises), he wears a tiger skin around his waist. Often, he wears a crown bearing five or six skulls sometimes with a lengthy garland of severed heads and a white scarf, the five skulls represent the transmutation of the five negative afflictions of human nature into positive virtues. His feet are usually pressing heavily on a corpse, with which Mahakala, as the great Lord of Death, is symbolically associated. Om Shri Mahakala Hum Phat. Om Mahakalaya Soha. Om Benza Nara Trim Trim Hung Hung Phet Phet Soha.