Vaishravana Thangka & Statue

Vaishravana is the guardian king of the north and, in the Gelug tradition, a wealth deity: yellow, riding a snow lion, holding a victory banner and a mongoose that disgorges jewels. He is the protector of prosperity and of monasteries.

Also spelled Vaisravana (and known in Tibetan as Namthöse, “the completely victorious”), Vaishravana is the northern guardian king and the Buddhist deity of wealth: his mongoose disgorges jewels rather than swallowing them, a reminder that generosity, not hoarding, is what makes wealth flow. In Gelug monasteries his image stands at the gate with the other three guardian kings.