Group of eight drawings depicting horsemen of the four times seven dBud

Description:

Outer Mongolia, 19th/ early 20th cent.
Je ca. 6,7 x 19,8 cm
In his 2002 publication Demons and Protectors - Folk Religion in Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, Géza Bethlenfalvy describes the drawings shown on page 39 under Fig. 18 as follows: The seven-seven retinues of the Four Düds. Based on a Tibetan text, Nebesky-Woykowitz writes that each düd belongs to a group of seven. The series shown below, consisting of eight sheets, shows four times seven düds. On two pages, four and three düds can be seen galloping on horses in four different manifestations. The first two pages, which are assigned to the east, depict the white lha'i bdud group. The inscription reads: shar lhai bdud dkar po. They hold a yellow flower and a red lasso in their hands. The second, yellow group, nyon mongs pai bdud, is assigned to the south. Their inscription reads: hor nyon mongs pa'i bdud ser po. In their hands they hold a black (iron phurba?) dagger and a black rope with a hook and half a vajra (for binding enemies?). The third group belongs to the west, they are the red phung po bdud. Their inscription reads: nub du phung po bdud dmar po. They hold a yellow lance and a yellow rope with hooks, and half a vajra. Finally, the fourth group, the black 'chi bdag gi bdud, belongs to the outer world, the god of “long life,” and many other local gods and families of gods. The deities are not exclusively supernatural beings; they are also close to humans. They are beings that obviously exist and with whom one can have a personal relationship. Ink and light colors on paper. These drawings are very rare.
Collection Joachim Baader, München, acquired before 1980
Published and exhibited as stated above Ferenc Hopp Museum Budapest 2003 - Traces of age, slight signs of wear