118 henrik h. sørensen
Figure 12. Mahākāla. Line-drawing based on Japanese Heian image.secondary divinities in the Dharmadhātu Mandala. In the Nanzhao
and Dali kingdoms the Mahākāla cult in was elevated to the status
of a national cult. A special four-armed form, the so-called Brahma-
Mahākāla, was worshiped in tandem with Vaiśravaṇa.^84 After the Yuan,
the popularity of Mahākāla was revived in the new form according to
the Indo-Tibetan pantheon, and as such his cult continued to the end
of the Qing dynasty.^85
(^84) Cf. Sørensen, “Esoteric Buddhism in the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdoms (c. 800–
1253),” in this volume.
(^85) See Wang 1994.