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kshetrapala

क्षेत्रपाल kṣetrapāla

The guardian deity of a sacred site or 'field'; at Kashi this role belongs to Kalabhairava, popularly called the Kotwal, the city magistrate.

Where this term appears

  • Who is Bhairava? Deities

    Bhairava is, across the subcontinent, the kṣetrapāla , the guardian of the field, the protector of a sacred site.

  • The magistrate of death Treatise

    It is a Persian administrative term that arrived with the Indo-Islamic centuries, wrapped later around a role the scriptures already knew by an older name, Kshetrapala , the guardian of the sacred field.

  • A genre that was always bilingual Treatise

    …ical potency, and mantras of a variety of other gods such as Yoginīs, Kṣetrapāla, Gaṇeśa and Kālī, for magical purposes.

  • The Fierce Guardians Treatise

    …ed level, Bhairava merges with an even older and more local guardian: Kṣetrapāla , "the protector of the field." Every sacred site — every temple, every village boundary, every stretch of cultivated land — has …

  • The six acts Treatise

    Their two main subjects are mastery of the mantra of Śabara, a minor deity of magical potency, and mantras of a variety of other gods, Yoginīs, Kṣetrapāla, Gaṇeśa, Kālī, for magical purposes.

  • The Temple Is a Cosmos Treatise

    They are the guardian-principle we met in the Bhairavas and Kshetrapala, brought down to the specific and practical job of holding this particular door.

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