Begtse

Also Known As: also Begtse Chen, “the Great Coat of Mail”; Chamsing or Jamsaran, from Tibetan lCam sring, “brother and sister”; Sanskrit Prana Atma; sometimes called the red Mahakala
Region/Culture: Himalayan Region
Mythos: Tibetan Mythology, Mongolian Mythology, Buddhist Mythology
Primary Type/Nature: Gods and Deities
Mythical Attributes: Begtse is a wrathful red war god in a coat of mail who cuts down the enemies of the Buddhist teaching and holds a fresh heart to his mouth.
Role in Mythos: He is one of the Eight Dharmapalas of Tibetan Buddhism, the main protector of the Hayagriva practices, a guardian of the Dalai Lamas and the chief protector deity of Mongolia.
Relation to Humans: Monks and lamas call on him to guard monasteries, teachers and the Tibetan government from harm. He is terrible only to those who threaten the teaching, and to the faithful he is a sworn bodyguard.

The butter lamps in a protector chapel burn low and smoky, and what they light is mostly red. On the wall or the painted cloth stands a warrior the colour of a ruby, legs braced wide like an archer about to loose. His right arm swings a sword whose hilt is a black scorpion. His left hand lifts a heart to his open mouth, still wet, and in the crook of that same elbow he has somehow tucked a bow, an arrow, a lance and a banner. He is not looking at the monk who has come in to make the evening offering. He is looking past him, at whatever might be coming through the door.

This is Begtse, and his name is a piece of equipment. It means coat of mail, or in its longer form the Great Coat of Mail, and under the silk and the goat-skin cloak he wears exactly that: a cuirass of copper, belted for war. He has one face and two hands, which is modest for a Tibetan protector, and three round eyes that the texts say are full of hatred for the enemies of the teaching. On his head sits a crown of five skulls. Around his neck hangs a garland of fifty freshly cut heads. He wears tall boots, and under the right boot lies the corpse of a horse, under the left the corpse of a man, and under all of it the flat gold disc of the sun.

He does not stand alone. His other name, Chamsing, which Mongolians say as Jamsaran, means brother and sister, and she is always near him. The paintings give her a red face and a dark blue body, a sword in one hand and a ritual dagger in the other, and they seat her on a bear. Some accounts call her his sister and some his consort, and the tradition has never much cared to settle it. On his other side rides the Red Master of Life, armed with a spear and a lasso and mounted on a wolf. Around the three of them crowd the butchers: red, busy figures with knives and cleavers, twenty-nine in the fullest lists, taking apart the bodies of the defeated.

The famous story about where he came from is set in 1577. In that year Sonam Gyatso, the lama who was about to be given the title of Dalai Lama, rode north out of Tibet at the invitation of the Mongol ruler Altan Khan. The legend says the old war god of the Mongols came out to stop him. Begtse blocked the road, armoured and red, with the whole steppe at his back. The lama did not fight. He showed himself as Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and where his horse had walked the hoofprints in the sand spelled out the six syllables of the great mantra. Begtse looked at the ground, and then at the rider, and gave in. He swore to guard the teaching he had come to turn back, and Mongolia went Buddhist behind him.

It is a good story and the dates are against it. The historian Amy Heller went through the Tibetan texts and found Begtse there long before 1577. The First Dalai Lama was teaching his rites in the fifteenth century. The Second Dalai Lama was devoted to him and in 1509 made him, together with the goddess Palden Lhamo, the protector of his own monastery. Tibetan tradition itself carries his practice back further still, to Marpa the Translator and to Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, the early masters of the Kagyu and Sakya schools. A god who was guarding Tibetan monasteries generations before the meeting with Altan Khan cannot have been converted at it. Where he truly began, nobody has shown. The Mongol war god may be a memory of something real, or a tale told afterwards to explain why the Mongols loved him so much.

They did love him. He became the chief protector of Mongolia. In Tibet the Fifth Dalai Lama raised him to protector of the government, and he has remained a personal guardian of the Dalai Lamas since. The Sakya school counts him among its main protectors, and he is the special guard of everyone who practises the rites of the horse-headed Hayagriva. In the common reckoning he is one of the Eight Dharmapalas, the great defenders of the faith. Among them he is the one dressed as a soldier.

His power is the soldier’s kind. He kills. The sword takes the lives of those who would destroy the teaching, the heart in his hand is an enemy’s, and the horse and the man beneath his boots are cavalry that did not get past him. The bow in his elbow reaches the ones who run. His retinue does the rest, and does it thoroughly. Against sickness, bad harvests or a restless ghost a monastery would call on someone else. Begtse is for enemies.

That is also his limit. He is a sworn protector, bound by oath, and he acts for the teaching and for the people who keep it. He does not grant wealth or long life or wisdom, and no source shows him merciful, tricked or tired. The one time the stories let him lose, he lost to a man on a horse who would not draw a weapon, and he has been working for that side ever since.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Begtse?

Begtse is a wrathful protector god of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, usually counted as one of the Eight Dharmapalas. He is a red warrior in armour who defends the Buddhist teaching against its enemies. He is also called Begtse Chen, Chamsing and Jamsaran.

What does the name Begtse mean?

Begtse means “coat of mail”, and Begtse Chen means “the Great Coat of Mail”. The name refers to the copper cuirass he wears. His other name, Chamsing or Jamsaran, means “brother and sister” and refers to the female companion who always appears beside him.

What does Begtse look like?

Begtse is ruby red with one face, two hands, three eyes and bared fangs. He holds a sword with a scorpion-shaped hilt in his right hand and a heart in his left, with a bow, arrow, lance and banner in the crook of his left arm. He wears a copper cuirass, a crown of five skulls and a garland of fifty severed heads, and he stands on the corpses of a horse and a man.

Was Begtse originally a Mongolian war god?

A well-known legend says Begtse was a pre-Buddhist Mongol war god who was converted in 1577 when the Third Dalai Lama travelled to meet Altan Khan. The historian Amy Heller showed that Begtse was already worshipped in Tibet in the fifteenth century, and the Second Dalai Lama made him protector of his monastery in 1509. His real origin has not been established.

What does Begtse protect?

Begtse is the main protector of the Hayagriva practices, a protector of the Sakya and Gelug schools, and a personal guardian of the Dalai Lamas. The Fifth Dalai Lama made him a protector of the Tibetan government. He is also the chief protector deity of Mongolia.