Begtse

{{Short description|Mongol and Tibetan Buddhist deity}}

{{more citations needed|date=September 2013}}

File:Маска Цам.JPG (2011)]]

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Begtse ({{bo|w=beg tse chen lcam sring}}; "Begtse the Great Coat of Mail") is a dharmapala and the lord of war in Tibetan Buddhism, originally a pre-Buddhist war god of the Mongols.{{sfnp|Chiodo|2000|p=149}}

Name

The name Begtse ({{bo|w=Beg tse}}) is a loanword from Mongolian {{Transliteration|mn|begder}}, meaning "coat of mail". He is also given the name and epithet Jamsaran ({{bo|w=lCam sring}}), meaning "Great Coat of Mail", which is a translation of the Mongolian.{{sfnp|Chiodo|2000|p=149}}

Description

Begtse has red skin and orange-red hair, two arms (as opposed to other Mahākālas, who have four or six), three blood-shot eyes and is wielding a sword in his right hand. He also holds a human heart in his right hand. In the stock of his right arm, he holds a bow and arrow and a halberd with bannet. He wears a chainmail shirt, which gave rise to his name, Jamsaran. He wears a Mongolian helmet with a crown of five skulls and four banners in the back. He is also accompanied by his consort, Rikpay Lhamo, and his main general, Laihansorgodog. They are surrounded by Jamsaran's satellites, the twenty-nine butchers.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Culture

Jamsaran is represented in Mongolian, and to a lesser extent Tibetan, Cham dance.{{sfnp|Pegg|2001|p=158ff}}

See also

  • Beg tse, a ceratopsian dinosaur named after the deity
  • King Gesar, regarded an incarnation of Jamsaran{{sfnp|Chiodo|2000|p=149|loc=footnote 11}}
  • Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, called an incarnation of Jamsaran by his followers

Citations

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General and cited references

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  • {{cite journal |last1=Chiodo |first1=Elisabetta |title=The Mongolian Manuscripts on Birch Bark from Xarbuxyn Balgas in the Collection of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences |volume=137 |journal=Asiatische Forschungen |issn=0571-320X |year=2000 |isbn=9783447042468 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJVDPztWJ7sC&pg=PA149}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Pegg |first1=Carole |title=Mongolian Music, Dance, & Oral Narrative |year=2001 |isbn=9780295981123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKRrVu0fBn8C&pg=PA158}}

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