Thangka of Palden Lhamo

Palden Lhamo is shown in a dark blue, wrathful form, riding a reddish-brown mule through a turbulent landscape of dark clouds and a red, swirling sea of gore. She holds a club and a skull cup, draped in human skins and jewelry of severed heads, with a parasol floating above her head. Beneath her mount, a corpse floats in the blood-sea. In the upper register, a peaceful white figure sits within a rainbow mandorla, flanked by two figures on horseback. Below, two smaller, dark-bodied deities on horseback mirror her movement, while skeletal remains and ritual offerings are scattered at the bottom.

Palden Lhamo is the only female Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is considered a wrathful manifestation of Saraswati and serves as a primary guardian of the Dalai Lamas and the city of Lhasa.