the protector deity with wrathful expression and flaming beard and moustache, a writhing snake in the hair with a vajra finial above, wearing white bone jewellery and a golden crown and ornaments, a snake necklace entwined on itself between the feet, a tiger skin around the waist, holding the kartrika and kapala before his chest, a gandi staff with golden ratna finials resting in the crooks of his arms and a scarf billowing at either side, standing with bended knees on a black demon recumbent on an elaborate lotus pedestal, a torana of fire behind with black animals and ravens amongst the flames, Vajradhara and Heruka Hevajra above, Ekajati and Shri Devi below, all framed by a red scrollwork border Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18329.

Good overall condition. Heavy accretion overall. Losses to white pigment such as the bone jewelry. Two sets of pinholes around border indicating textile now missing.
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Compare the elaborate lotus petal design, the scrolling vine motif on the upper surface of the lotus pedestal and the red flame tips against a scrollwork halo of a Mahavajrabhairava mandala in the Pritzker Collection dating to the second half of the fourteenth century, see Steven M. Kossak and Jane Casey Singer, Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet, New York, 1998, p. 159, cat. no. 44. Compare also the tall crown and the compact and monumental form of a circa 1500 Mahakala formerly in the Zimmerman Family Collection, see Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, New York, 1991, p. 161, cat. no. 93. Compare the simple format of the painting with four attendant deities placed in the corners, and a patterned border, with a fifteenth century Tibeto-Chinese Panjaranata Mahakala in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, see Rob Linrothe and Jeff Watt, Demonic Divine: Himalayan Art and Beyond, New York and Chicago, 2004, p. 64, fig. 2.16. The border design of the present example is based on classic early Ming motifs.

The rare and unusual painting would seem to date to the period between the second half of the fourteenth century of the Pritzker Mahavajrabhairava mandala and the circa 1500 date of Zimmerman Mahakala, perhaps around the middle of the fifteenth century. Panjaranata Mahakala is the wrathful emanation of Shri Hevajra who is depicted at the top of the painting, and is protector of the Hevajra tantras that are particularly popular with the Sakya order. It is possible that the painting was commissioned for a Sakya patron. For a comprehensive discourse on the meaning and function of this form of Mahakala, see Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources, Panjarnata.