Toh 1775 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

A Praise of the Glorious Mahākāla

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1775
Genre: Eulogy
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,917 Tibetan characters · 554 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This text is a praise (stotra) dedicated to the deity Mahākāla, framing the figure as an emanation of the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha. The work functions as a ritual invocation and an expression of devotion, utilizing a series of epithets to characterize the deity's power. It emphasizes Mahākāla's role as a subduer of discordant forces and malevolent beings, specifically mentioning the subjugation of nāgas. The imagery employed is characteristic of wrathful deities in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, describing a body adorned with legless creatures and the wearing of a tiger skin to signify heroic majesty and ferocity. By presenting Mahākāla as the one who severs hatred at its root, the text commits the reader to recognizing the deity not merely as a terrifying force, but as a manifestation of enlightened activity directed toward the removal of spiritual and worldly obstacles.

Provenance

About this text

A eulogy dedicated to the deity Mahākāla, the Śrīmahākālastotra belongs to the Indo-Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Avadhūtipa. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the text appears in the Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it spans three pages; it is situated within the canonical collection known as the Other Wisdom Tantras. The Tibetan title is dpal nag po chen po la bstod pa. The work enacts a ritual invocation and expression of devotion, framing Mahākāla as an emanation of the body, speech, and mind of the Blessed One. Through a series of epithets, it characterizes the deity as a subduer of discordant forces, malevolent beings, and nāgas, who severs hatred at its root. The imagery describes a figure adorned with legless creatures and wearing a tiger skin to signify heroic majesty and ferocity. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine how Mahākāla is presented not merely as a terrifying force, but as a manifestation of enlightened activity directed toward the removal of spiritual and worldly obstacles.

Sanskrit title: Śrīmahākālastotra
Indian author: Avadhūtipa
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: Other Wisdom Tantras
Genre: Eulogy
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཤ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Praise of the Glorious Mahākāla” (Toh 1775), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1775

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its representation of the wrathful aspect of the Buddhist pantheon, illustrating how ferocity is integrated into the path of enlightenment. For a modern reader, it provides a primary example of the iconographic and functional role of protector deities in Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Invocation and Origin	Establishes the titles of the work in Sanskrit and Tibetan and identifies Mahākāla as an emanation of the Buddha.
2	Attributes of the Subduer	Describes the deity's power to subdue malevolent beings and nāgas, detailing his wrathful iconography.

Themes

Divine Emanation (1)
Subjugation of Obstacles (2)
Wrathful Iconography (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaA Praise of the Glorious Mahākāla·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཤྲཱི་མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་སྟོ་ཏྲ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། བཅོམ་ལྡན་དཔལ་ཆེན་གྲགས་པ་ཡི། ། སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་ལས་སྤྲུལ་པ་ཡིས། ། ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་ཀ་ནས་བྱུང་སྟེ། ། སྤྲུལ་པས་འདུལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། ཧཱུཾ་གི་དེ་ཉིད་ལས་བཞེངས་པའི། ། ཞལ་གཅིག་ཕྱག་ནི་གཉིས་པ་སྟེ། ། སྐུ་མདོག་ནག་པོ་འབར་བ་ཆེ། ། བསྟན་པ་སྲུང་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། ཐོད་པ་རྣམ་གསུམ་འབར་བ་ཡི། ། གཞལ་ཡས་གུར་གྱི་ནང་ན་བཞུགས། ། གཡས་བསྐུམ་གཡོན་བརྐྱང་བདུད་རྣམས་མནན། ། འགྱིང་བག་བརྗིད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། མ་ཆགས་ཐབས་ཀྱི་པདྨ་མཛེས། ། ཤེས་རབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཉི་མའི་དཀྱིལ། ། ཧཱུཾ་ལས་སྐྱེས་པའི་དཔའ་བོ་ནི། ། བསྟན་པ་བསྲུངས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། གཡས་ཀྱི་གྲི་གུག་གདེངས་པ་ཡིས། ། དགྲ་བགེགས་འདུལ་ཞིང་བདུད་མགོ་གཅོད། ། ཉོན་མོངས་དུག་གསུམ་རྩད་ནས་འཇོམས། ། དཔའ་བོ་ཁྱོད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། བདུད་ཀྱི་ཐོད་པ་བདུད་རྩིས་བཀང་། ། ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཞལ་དུ་གསོལ་བར་མཛད། ། སྒྲུབ་པ་པོ་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ། ། བྱིན་རླབས་འབེབས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། ཞལ་ནས་ཁྲག་གི་རྒྱུན་འཛག་པ། ། བསྟན་པ་ལ་གནོད་དལ་ཡམས་འབེབས། ། དམ་ཚིག་བསྲུངས་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ། ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། སྲིད་གསུམ་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། ། མགོ་བོའི་ཕྲེང་བས་དོ་ཤལ་བྱས། ། དུག་ལྔ་རྩད་ནས་གཅོད་པ་སྟེ། ། དུག་གསུམ་འཇོམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། མཆེ་བ་གཙིགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ལ། ། གནོད་པའི་ཀླད་པ་འཇོམས་པར་མཛད། ། ཏིལ་ཙམ་དག་ཏུ་བརླག་པར་མཛད། །

In the language of India: Śrī Mahākālastotra. In the language of Tibet: dPal nag po chen po la bstod pa (Praise to the Glorious Great Black One). Homage to the Glorious Great Black One! Emanated from the body, speech, and mind of the Blessed One, the Great Glorious Renowned One, you emerge from your own heart. To the emanation who tames through emanation, I prostrate and praise! Arisen from the very essence of the syllable HŪṂ, you have one face and two arms. Your body is black and a great blazing mass. To the protector of the teachings, I prostrate and praise! Within a celestial pavilion of three blazing skulls, you dwell. With right leg drawn in and left extended, you trample the māras. To the majestic and imposing one, I prostrate and praise! The beautiful lotus of unattached skillful means and the solar mandala of the wisdom of insight: the hero born from the syllable HŪṂ. To the protector of the teachings, I prostrate and praise! With the curved knife brandished in your right hand, you subdue enemies and obstructors and sever the heads of māras. You root out the three poisons of the afflictions. To you, the hero, I prostrate and praise! The skull-cup of the māras, filled with nectar, you offer into your own mouth. You bestow accomplishments upon the practitioner. To the one who brings down blessings, I prostrate and praise! From your mouth, a stream of blood flows, raining down plagues upon those who harm the teachings. To the one who grants accomplishments to those who guard their samaya, I prostrate and praise! With a garland of heads from all sentient beings of the three realms as a necklace, you cut the five poisons at the root. To the one who conquers the three poisons, I prostrate and praise! With fangs bared, you crush the brains of those who harm the teachings, reducing them to the size of sesame seeds. To the one of great compassion, I prostrate and praise!

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionབསྟོད་པ “praise” — An encomium or hymn of praise.

homonymཤེས་རབ is rendered “insight” here; the glossary also records discernment, wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཤེས་རབ “insight” — In this text shes rab seems to mean primarily knowledge (defined as insight and understanding one has gained through studying and experience), specifically knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha in general, and of karm

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

homonymཉོན་མོངས is rendered “affliction” here; the glossary also records afflictions, defilement, afflictive emotion for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཉོན་མོངས “affliction” — The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes f

homonymདམ་ཚིག is rendered “samaya” here; the glossary also records sacred vow, commitment, samaya vows for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདམ་ཚིག “samaya” — Literally, in Sanskrit, “coming together.” Samaya refers to precepts given by the teacher, the corresponding commitment by the pupil, and the bond that results, which can also be the bond between the practitioner and the

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཤེས་རབ → insight

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termཉོན་མོངས → affliction

termདམ་ཚིག → samaya

མི་མཐུན་འདུལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། གདུག་པ་མ་ལུས་འདུལ་མཛད་པའི། ། རྐང་མེད་འགྲོ་བས་སྐུ་ལ་བརྒྱན། ། ཞེ་སྡང་རྩད་ནས་གཅོད་པ་སྟེ། ། ཀླུ་ཆེན་འདུལ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། སྟག་ནི་དཔའ་བརྗིད་རྔམ་པའི་ཆས། ། ཤམ་ཐབས་(རྐད་,རྐེད་)ལ་བཅིངས་པ་ཡིས། ། དྲེགས་པ་ལྷ་ཆེན་ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན། ། དཔའ་ཆེན་བདུད་འདུལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། བསྐལ་པ་མེ་དཔུང་འབར་བ་ཡི། ། སྲིད་པའི་རྩེ་མོར་རབ་ཏུ་འབར། ། བསྟན་པ་ལ་གནོད་སྒྲོལ་མཛད་པ། ། འབར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཁྱོད་ལ་བསྟོད། ། དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། ། ཐ་མའི་བསྟན་པ་སྲུང་མཛད་པ། ། (ཐད་,ཐོད་)པ་ལྔ་ཡིས་དབུ་ལ་བརྒྱན། ། འཇིགས་འགོད་གཤེགས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། རལ་པ་ཁམ་ནག་གྱེན་དུ་འཁྱིལ། ། བསྟན་པ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་ཡིས། ། ནམ་མཁའི་མཐའ་དང་མཉམ་པའི་རྟགས། ། རྟགས་ལྔ་ལྡན་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། སྤྱན་གསུམ་དུག་གསུམ་རྩད་ནས་འཇོམས། ། འདུལ་བ་རྣམ་པ་བཞི་གཟིགས་ནས། ། གང་ལ་ཅི་འདུལ་ཇི་བཞིན་དུ། ། དེ་འདུལ་ཁྱོད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། ། དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ཨ་ཝ་དྷཱུ་ཏཱི་པས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

Homage and praise to the subduer of discordant forces! You who subdue every single malevolent being, your body is adorned with legless creatures. You who sever hatred at its very root, homage and praise to the subduer of the great nāgas! With a tiger, the attire of heroic majesty and ferocity, bound as a lower garment around your waist, you overwhelm the pride of the great gods. Homage and praise to the great hero, the subduer of Māras! Blazing like the mass of fire at the end of an eon, you burn intensely even to the peak of existence. You who liberate those who harm the Teachings, I praise you, the King of Blazing Radiance! You who protect the final teachings of all the Tathāgatas, your head is adorned with five skulls. Homage and praise to you who strike fear into the wicked! Your tawny-black locks swirl upward; through the excellence of the Teachings, they are a sign equal to the limits of space. Homage and praise to the one endowed with the five signs! With three eyes, you uproot the three poisons. Having perceived the four ways of subduing, you tame each being exactly as required. Homage and praise to you, the tamer! The praise to the glorious Mahākāla composed by the great master Avadhūtipa is hereby complete.

terminologyཀླུ → “nāga”. Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.

definitionཀླུ “nāga” — A supernatural being usually depicted as having the top half of a human and the bottom half of a snake. However, the nāga has a myriad of associations within Buddhism and Indian traditions in general; the term may be ass

periodམེ → “fire”. In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not capitalise the element.

homonymམེ is rendered “fire” here; the glossary also records Āgneya, Analā, Acalā for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམེ “fire” — Classified as a “ lord of beings ” ( prajāpati ).

terminologyདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → “tathāgata”. Kept as the Sanskrit loan in translation (84000 practice), not 'Thus-Gone One'.

homonymདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ is rendered “tathāgata” here; the glossary also records thus-gone, Thus-Gone One, thus-gone one for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ “tathāgata” — A frequently used synonym for buddha . According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata , literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata , “one who has thus come.” Gata , though literally m

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཀླུ → nāga

termམེ → fire

termརྒྱལ་པོ → king

termདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ → tathāgata

termབསྟོད་པ → praise

Terminology used in this text (11)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
བསྟོད་པ	praise	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	2
ཤེས་རབ	insight	1
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
ཉོན་མོངས	affliction	1
དམ་ཚིག	samaya	1
ཐུགས་རྗེ	compassion	1
ཀླུ	nāga	1	Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
རྒྱལ་པོ	king	1
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ	tathāgata	1	Kept as the Sanskrit loan in translation (84000 practice), not 'Thus-Gone One'.

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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