Thangka of Hayagriva

Lama Temple, Beijing

Hayagriva was originally, in Hinduism, a horse-headed avatar of Vishnu with both fierce and benign manifestations. In Mahayana Buddhism, he becomes a fierce horse-headed manifestation of Avalokiteshvara. In Tibetan Buddhism, he is still a fierce manifestation of Avalokiteshvara but loses his horse's head. Hayagriva appears in this thangka (cloth painting) as a red-bodied deity with six arms and three principal heads. He wears a crown of snakes and a garland of heads, and holds a sword in his lower right hand. The deity appears within a mandorla of flame, at the center of a mandala where he is surrounded by related deities.

The purpose of these fierce deities is to scare away whatever bad thoughts or influences may be hindering one's spiritual quest; by visualizing the fierce deities, the practitioner obtains the inner power to overcome spiritual obstacles.