Palden Lhamo

Wrathful female dharmapāla, principal protectress of Tibet and special protector of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama lineages; depicted deep blue, riding a white mule across a sea of blood. Tibetan form of the Sanskrit Śrīdevī.

Domains

• protection of tibet
• dharmapala class

Powers

• Protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas
• Grant prophetic visions in the oracle lake

Epithets

• དཔལ་ལྡན་ལྷ་མོ་ tibetan · dPal ldan lha mo · cultThe Glorious Goddess; chief protectress of TibetR. de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet (1956) (secondary)
• श्रीदेवी sanskrit · Śrīdevī · cultThe Glorious Goddess; her Sanskrit nameIndo-Tibetan Buddhist tantra; Mahākālī/Śrīdevī protector tradition (secondary)
• རྡོ་རྗེ་རབ་བརྟན་མ་ tibetan · rDo rje rab brtan ma · cultVajra-Steadfast Lady; her form as protector of the Dalai LamasGelug protector tradition; the Lhamo Latso oracle-lake cult (secondary)

Relations

• interpretatio: KaliHer name Śrīdevī and iconography (mule, flayed-skin saddle, skull-cup, disease-goddess retinue) come from the Indian Kālī/Cāmuṇḍā complex; Tibet makes her national protectress of the Dalai Lamas.René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet (1956), ch. on dPal-ldan lha-mo, tracing her to the Indian Śrīdevī/Kāladevī circle of Kālī-type goddesses (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Vajrayāna dharmapāla literature; Gelug tradition of the Dalai Lamas (secondary)