Begtse

Begtse, also called Chamsing (lCam sring, 'brother and sister', from his pairing with his sister-consort in iconography), is one of the eight great dharma protectors (drag gshed) of Tibetan Buddhism. He is depicted red-bodied in full mail armour with Mongol boots, brandishing a flaming copper sword with a scorpion hilt while pressing a devoured heart to his mouth, trampling a horse and a man, and leading a retinue of twenty-nine red butchers with knives. Legend recounts that he opposed the Third Dalai Lama's journey to convert the Mongols in 1578 and was himself subdued and bound as a Buddhist protector, after which his cult flourished among both Tibetans and Mongols, who worship him as Jamsaran. Amy Heller's research has shown that his cult is in fact older, attested in Tibetan texts from the eleventh century; he served as personal protector of the Third Dalai Lama and, together with Palden Lhamo, as one of the paired 'red and black protectors' (srung ma dmar nag) of the Dalai Lama lineage and of Chokhorgyel monastery.

Domains

• warfare
• dharma protection

Powers

• to grant victory in battle and destroy the enemies of the doctrine
• to guard the person and lineage of the Dalai Lamas

Epithets

• ལྕམ་སྲིང (lCam sring)
• གནོད་སྦྱིན་ཆེན་པོ (gNod sbyin chen po, 'great yaksha')

Sources

• René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities (The Hague: Mouton, 1956)
• Amy Heller, 'Historic and Iconographic Aspects of the Protective Deities Srung-ma dmar-nag', in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Narita 1989 (1992)