Dhritarashtra – The Heavenly king of the Eastern Direction

Well, during our visit to the various monasteries in and around Leh, I realized that my understanding of the multitude and the varieties of the Tibetan Buddhist deities and masters is Nil. It was the same for my fellow tourists as well. They appear equally bewildered and lost.

This series is an effort to share with everyone the information about Tibetan Buddhist deities and the masters, their stories, and the iconography.

Dhritarashtra and how to recognize him

I am starting with Dhritarashtra. Yes, Buddhism also has the king Dhritarashtra just like the Mahabharta. It is easy to recognize Dhritarashtra in Tibetan Buddhist art. His murals are at the entrance of the temple. He holds a lute or Veena in his hand. And thus he is also known as Veenaraja.

Significance of Lute/Veena in Buddhism

Now, the lute has other significance as well. The lute features in a story about the historical Buddha. Buddha was searching for the right path between luxury and asceticism. At that time a group of musicians passed by.

An elder was teaching a younger one: “You must make the strings neither too loose, where they cannot produce sound, nor too tight, where they snap. The correct place is exactly in the middle.”

 It made Buddha realize the significance of the middle way and he became a teacher of “the Middle Way.”

The meaning of the world Dhritarashtra and the four Heavenly kings in Buddhism

The name Dhritarashtra means upholder of the nation. He is one of the four heavenly Guardian Kings in Buddhism along with Virudhaka, Virūpākṣa and Vaiśravaṇa. He is the keeper of the Eastern Direction and the lord of Gandharvas – the celestial musicians. Dhritarashtra rules over a realm that lives on the melodious music.

Gandharva are part animals usually birds or horses and act as messenger between gods and humans.

Who was Dhritarashtra in his previous birth

The story goes that in his previous birth he and Virudhaka were Nagas. They lived at the bottom of the ocean. They never dare to come to the surface of water as they were fearful of Garuda. One day Buddha Kashyap arrived and gave a sermon near their place of residence. After listening to His sermon they took refuge in Dharma. These virtues protected them from any harm and they lived without any fear on the surface of the ocean.

Mention of four guardian kings in Buddhist literature

The stories of the four guardian kings are mentioned in the early Buddhist sutras. These stories were further elaborated in later Mahayana. These four guardian kings are common to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Each of these Guardian Kings watches over one cardinal direction of the world.

What is Four Guardian kings role

These kings battle against evils and the asuras who keep on trying to disrupt the peace and contentment of heaven. Each of them sit over a mountain peak that is the highest point of their continent.

These four kings guard the Buddhist temples. They also protected Buddha at the moment of conception in his mother’s womb.

These four great kings also protect the Kings who support the Buddhist Sangha from hostile armies and other dangers. They ensure that the countries of such righteous kings remain in harmonious state and the kings who oppose or work against Sangha declines.

These four kings are also the recorders of the happenings in Deva’s assemblies. On eighth day of Lunar half-moon they send their emissaries to find out whether men are cultivating righteousness and virtues. On fourteenth day they send their son and on the fifteenth day they themselves arrive on the earth to check.

All of them collect and compile the reports of their findings and present it in Trāyastriṃśa heaven. The Devas’ then rejoice or deplore according to which directions men are moving.

Representation of Four Guardian kings in monastries

The four kings are represented in three contexts in the monasteries.

Murals at the temple entrance

The murals of these four guardian kings are usually at the entrances of the Buddhist monasteries. They are worldly deities and hence are not permitted inside the monastries.

As secondary figures in the Mandala

In mandala paintings the four kings are part of the composition as secondary deities, as door guardians or in the outer retinue.

As members of twenty-five figures

The four kings are also members of twenty-five figures that includes Shakyamuni Buddha, sixteen elders – the Sthavira and the Arhats, two of Buddha’s foremost disciples – Śāriputra and Maudgalyayana, His attendants – Dharmata and Hvashang along with the four Kings.

The Kingdom of Dhritarashtra is located on the eastern side of Mt Sumeru – the axial mountain of the universe where the Gods live. Dhritarashtra always carry Veena, the stringed instrument. He uses music to spread dharma and to defeat the evil forces.

Dhritarashtra is a protector deity. He protects the living beings and the land and so the name Dhritarashtra – the heavenly lord of maintaining the country. His ninety-one sons are always ready to protect the disciples of Lord Buddha.

Iconography of Dhritarashtra

Dhritarashtra wears the regal attire of brocade, trousers and boots of various colors. He is white in color and has a broad square face with grey eyebrows, moustache and a beard. He wears a Golden Jewel Studded crown, earrings, tassels and ribbon. His head has a circle of irregular dark green areola behind it which has edges of red and orange flame.

He sits on a mat above a rocky bench in a relaxed posture.

The background has swirling smoke, grey and black and the level foreground is sparse and green.

He holds Veena in both his hands and plays it to create harmony and also to attract people to Buddhism. He covers his ears with helmet while playing Veena, so that he does not hear any other sound as whatever sound he hears, turns back and cause harm to whoever produces it.

Mantra For Dhritarashtra

For Peace and Harmony, the devotees should recite the Mantra of King Dhritarashtra:
OM Dhritarashtra RALAPRAVADHAHA SOHA

As Dhritarashtra represents the East direction, he also represents the arrival of first light driving out ignorance with his vigilant watchfulness. Dhritarashtra is harmonious and compassionate in nature. He is usually lost in the melodies of his lute. He uses the music to show the path of enlightenment.

References

Buddhist Deities and Masters – An introduction by Chandra B Sakya

The iconography of Nepalese Buddhism by Min Bahadur Shakya

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Virudhaka – The Heavenly King of the Southern Direction >>