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Mahākāla
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Mahākāla

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Mahākāla (, ) is a deity common to Hinduism and Buddhism.

Key facts

Deity.type
Hindu
Deity.image
Mahakala and Companions LACMA M.77.19.11.jpg
Deity.caption
Mahākāla and companions
Deity.name
Mahakala
Deity.deity_of
God of Time, Maya, Creation, Destruction and Power
Deity.abode
Śmaśāna (but varies by interpretation)
Deity.consort
Parvati as Mahakali
Deity.weapon
Khanda, Trishula, Hammer (in Japanese depictions)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
god
Gender
male
Image
Mahakala, China, Qing dynasty, 1700s AD, gilded bronze - Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm - DSC09609.JPG
Show 2 more facts
Commons category
Mahakala
different from
Mahakala
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

18 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • Description
  • In Hinduism
  • In Buddhism
  • Tibetan Buddhism depictions
  • Two-armed forms
  • Four-armed forms
  • Six-armed forms
  • Other forms
  • In China
  • In Japan
  • In Sikhism
  • See also
  • References
  • Citations
  • Works cited
  • Further reading
  • External links

Mahākāla (, ) is a deity common to Hinduism and Buddhism.

In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as a ("Protector of the Dharma") and a wrathful manifestation of a Buddha, while in Hinduism, Mahākāla is a fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva and the consort of the goddess Mahākālī; he most prominently appears in the sect of Shaktism.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mahākāla” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (7)