3-068-311 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

An evil demon (dMu) who causes dropsy. Additional Info: The painting shows a dMu demon: dMu is the name of one of the early tribes inhabiting Tibet, and the name was later used for a certain type of earth demon. The demon, whose body colour is black, is walking and beating the kind of instrument which is used by Bon sorcerers: the instrument is a tambourine, with a greenish antelope-skin stretched over only one side of a wooden frame and held in position by strings drawn crosswise over the frame. He holds it in his left hand by means of a short wooden handle in the form of a phur bu (small dagger) with a human face carved on it (a similar one is illustrated by Nebesky-Wojkowitz, pl. IX). He is beating it with a curved wooden stick still used in Bon ceremonies. He is carrying a goat's horn in his girdle, and wearing a chaplet of bells round his neck. His rosary consists of lak?a (lac) beads, and by his side are offerings of eggs and rice, attempts to propitiate him to avert the dropsy.