The eleven-faced form of Avalokiteshvara (Ekadashamukha). The eleven faces rise in groups of three, the tenth wrathful and the topmost that of the Buddha Amitabha. Of his eight hands, the first pair hold a jewel at the heart; the three right hands extend in the gesture of generosity, bearing a dharma wheel and a crystal mala, while the three left hold a water flask, a bow and arrow, and a lotus. He stands with legs together on a lotus, a deerskin across his left shoulder and silks about his lower body, ringed by radiant light. Avalokiteshvara is the patron deity of Tibet, embodying the compassion of all buddhas. By legend his head once shattered into ten pieces and his body into a thousand; Amitabha reassembled them as ten faces and a thousand hands, an eye in every palm.
