Philosophical and Tantric Aspects of Amritesh and Amriteshwori
Author: Ashish Shrestha | Independent Researcher on Culture and Tantra
Published 25th October, 2025
Here in this post, I am sharing about one of the most profound and rich works of Newari art, the image of Mrityunjaya (also known as Amritesha or Amriteshwor, the Lord of Immortality) together with his consort Amritalakshmi, found in the Royal Bath (Tusa Hiti) of Patan
What is presented here is drawn from available research works, manuscripts, and iconographic evidence. There may still be gaps or errors, and I remain open to correction and deeper understanding.
My purpose is to bring together the details known so far, while keeping the study open, reflective, and accessible.
Key Takeaways
- The sculpture of Mrityunjaya (Amritesha) and Amritalakshmi at Tusa Hiti is one of the finest examples of Newari Tantric art from the Malla period.
- Built in 1647 by King Siddhi Narsingh Malla, Tusa Hiti unites Vaishnava devotion and Shaiva-Tantric symbolism, reflecting the spiritual duality of royal worship.
- The iconography, Mrityunjaya holding the pot of nectar and moon, and Amritalakshmi holding the conch and lotus, matches descriptions from the Netra Tantra and illustrated Newar manuscripts.
- The placement within a water shrine symbolizes immortality, purification, and the eternal cycle of renewal, central to Tantric cosmology.
- The sculpture embodies the fusion of art, theology, and kingship, reminding us that Malla palaces were living temples of divine energy and learning.
About Amritesh and Amriteshwori
The Royal Bath of Patan, known as Tusha Hiti, lies within Sundari Chowk of Patan Durbar. Tusa Hiti was built in 1647 under the rule of King Siddhi Narsingh Malla.
The hiti, or stone fountain, is sunken into the courtyard floor, forming an octagonal pool richly decorated with seventy-two carved figures arranged on three levels.
The central level carries a gilt image of Lakshmi-Narayana on Garuda, representing the king’s Vaishnava devotion and his wish for prosperity and divine protection.
Yet, as discussed by Gudrun Bühnemann in her article “The Identification of a Sculpture of Mrityunjaya/Amritesha and Amritalakshmi in the ‘Royal Bath’ in Patan (Nepal),” published in Prajñādhara, Vol. 18, 2009, pp. 107–113, the rest of the iconographic program clearly shows a Tantric Shaiva framework that complements the Vaishnava imagery.
This harmonious combination was characteristic of the Malla period, when kings were both royal patrons and Tantric initiates.
Among the many figures of Tusa Hiti, one small but remarkable image, located near the bottom section of the fountain, stands out for its subtle power. The panel that contains this image is divided into three parts.
The upper portion shows a four-armed male deity seated with his four-armed consort on his left thigh, both upon a lotus resting on a crescent moon.
Below them are Maheshori, Vaishnavi and Kumari, each riding her respective vehicle: the bull, Garuda, and peacock.
The base of the panel displays a smaller deity supported by a crouching male figure and flanked by two goblins.
For a long time, the upper pair was misidentified as Chandra, the moon god, due to the presence of the lunar crescent. However, as shown by Bühnemann in her study, this identification could not account for the other attributes.
The male figure, as she observed, is depicted white in color, seated in baddha padmasana (the bound-lotus posture).
In his right hands he holds a kalasha (water pot) filled with amrita, the nectar of immortality, and shows the varadamudra, the gesture of granting boons.
His left hands hold the full moon and, though partly obscured, likely form the abhayamudra, the gesture of protection.
His consort sits gracefully on his left thigh, also four-armed and white in complexion. She holds a conch and a lotus while displaying the same two gestures, varada and abhaya.
The two figures are seated upon a large lotus supported by a crescent moon, a composition that perfectly reflects descriptions of Mrityunjaya and Amritalakshmi found in classical Tantric texts.
As discussed by Bühnemann, the most relevant source for identifying this image is the Netra tantra, a Shaiva scripture composed in Kashmir between the eighth and ninth centuries.
In its third and eighteenth chapters, Mrityujit (“the Conqueror of Death”) is described as white, three-eyed, seated on a lotus placed within a lunar disc, holding a pot of nectar and the full moon while showing gestures of protection and generosity.
His consort, Sri (also called Amritalakshmi), is likewise white and radiant, seated upon his lap, holding a lotus and a conch. The close agreement between these details and the Patan sculpture confirms the identification.
Additional supporting evidence comes from Nepalese manuscripts. As noted by Bühnemann, two illustrated manuscripts in the National Archives, Nana-Stotra-chitra-sangraha (Accession No. 3/40) and the Amritasurya Puja Vidhi (Accession No. 8/1713), both contain images of Mrityunjaya-Amritalakshmi with identical attributes.
The drawings show the couple seated together, the god holding a pot and moon, the goddess holding a conch and lotus, both surrounded by a halo of light. These manuscript paintings confirm that the iconography was known to Newar ritualists and artists of the period.
The ritual background of the image also connects it to royal worship. As described by Bühnemann, a Newar-Sanskrit text titled Mohan-cuka-ya Hiti-yata busadhanasa ahuti biyu vidhi preserved in the National Archives and in private collections, lists Mrityunjaya among the deities invoked during offerings at the royal fountain of Mohan Chowk in Kathmandu, built in 1652 by King Pratap Malla, just five years after Tusa Hiti.
According to this ritual manual, the deities of the fountain were offered fire oblations and invocations for the king’s purity, longevity, and protection.
This indicates that the fountains of the Malla palaces were not merely ornamental works of architecture but sacred Tantric installations used for daily or annual royal rituals of renewal and consecration.
As observed by Alexis Sanderson in his essay “Religion and the State: Saiva Officiants in the Territory of the King,” published in 2004 (page 241), the worship of Amritesha and Amritalakshmi became an integral part of Newar Shaivism and was practiced within royal households.
Sanderson further explains that such Tantric rites were performed by hereditary Shaiva priests (Rajopadhyaya Brahmins) who maintained the esoteric continuity of Kashmiri Shaiva traditions in the Kathmandu Valley.
This continuity helps explain how the Netra tantra’s theology of Mrityunjaya reached the Malla court of Patan.
The roots of this iconography go even deeper. Bühnemann compares the Tusa Hiti sculpture with several early Himalayan bronzes from Kashmir, Chamba, and Ladakh, dated between the tenth and eleventh centuries.
These bronzes show a nearly identical couple, the male holding a water pot and moon, the female carrying a lotus and conch, both seated upon a lotus. Earlier catalogues, such as those by Pratapaditya Pal, had identified these bronzes as Uma-Maheshvara, but closer comparison proves that they actually represent the Amritesha-Amritalakshmi form described in the Netra tantra.
This continuity demonstrates that the image type originated in Kashmir and spread across the western Himalayas into Nepal, where it was refined within the Newar artistic tradition.
The image’s significance at Tusa Hiti becomes clearer when seen alongside other royal cults of the period. In Patan, Goddess Harasiddhi held a central position as the secret tutelary deity of the Malla kings.
As told in local chronicles, Harasiddhi was installed both in the city temple and within the royal palace itself, and her worship was conducted alongside that of Mrityunjaya, Kumari, and Kumara.
The inclusion of Mrityunjaya-Amritalakshmi within the royal fountain reflects the same circle of Tantric deities associated with royal power, protection, and the extension of life.
The king’s ritual relationship with Harasiddhi symbolized energy and victory, while his devotion to Mrityunjaya represented serenity and immortality, together forming the complete ideal of Tantric kingship.
The placement of Mrityunjaya-Amritalakshmi within a water shrine has deep symbolic meaning. In Tantric cosmology, water represents the eternal substance of life and the cycle of death and rebirth.
By placing Mrityunjaya, the conqueror of death, within a fountain that continuously flows, the image becomes a living ritual of renewal. The nectar (amrita) held in the god’s hand mirrors the water of the hiti itself, transforming physical cleansing into spiritual purification.
The goddess Amritalakshmi personifies the nourishing and sustaining aspect of that divine flow.
As described in the Netra tantra, the union of these two deities grants both material prosperity and spiritual liberation. Their worship purifies the devotee’s karma and extends the vital breath (prana).
In the royal setting, these meanings were extended to the body politic, the king and his kingdom, ensuring health, abundance, and endurance.
The Malla kings, who combined Vaishnava devotion with Shaiva-Tantric initiation, would have viewed the daily use of the hiti as a sacred act of self-consecration, connecting their rule to the eternal rhythm of divine energy.
The architectural symbolism of Tusa Hiti reinforces this Tantric understanding. As explained by Bühnemann and earlier art historians such as Mary Slusser in Nepal Mandala, the three levels of the fountain correspond to the three realms of existence: the upper level representing the celestial world of the gods, the middle level the terrestrial world of living beings, and the lower level the subterranean or chthonic world.
The flow of water from the top to the bottom, passing over sacred imagery, represents the descent of divine grace through creation and the return of purification upward through ritual.
Within this cosmological structure, Mrityunjaya-Amritalakshmi occupies a crucial position near the base, the point of transformation, where death turns into immortality.
When seen as a whole, this sculpture embodies several layers of meaning. On the theological level, it expresses the Shaiva concept of amrita, the deathless essence of consciousness that transcends the cycle of birth and decay.
On the ritual level, it represents the royal invocation of vitality and fortune. On the artistic level, it marks the Newar mastery of integrating text, theology, and aesthetics into a single image.
The presence of Mrityunjaya and Amritalakshmi at Tusa Hiti also sheds light on how Kashmiri Tantric knowledge was transmitted into the Kathmandu Valley.
As noted by scholars, Kashmiri pandits and Buddhist monks traveled through the Himalayas carrying texts like the Netra tantra, which were then translated, copied, and illustrated by Newar scribes.
Over time, these teachings were absorbed into the ritual life of Nepal’s cities, where they merged with local practices and were preserved by Newar priestly families.
The Tusa Hiti image is therefore not only an artistic treasure but also a record of centuries of cultural exchange and spiritual adaptation.
Viewed through this lens, the Mrityunjaya-Amritalakshmi sculpture of Tusa Hiti becomes a visual mantra, a representation of the victory of life over death, and the continuous renewal of creation through divine energy.
The water flowing through the fountain mirrors the flow of amrita in the god’s hand, while the moon beneath their seat symbolizes coolness, purity, and immortality.
Their union reflects the Tantric realization that liberation and life are not separate, that the eternal exists within the changing, and immortality is found within the world itself.
Every detail of this sculpture, its iconography, placement, and symbolic depth, speaks to the sophisticated religious culture of seventeenth-century Patan. It reminds us that the Malla palaces were not simply centers of political power, but living temples where kingship, devotion, and art were one.
In reflecting on this image, it is humbling to see how one small stone carving in a royal bath can open a window into a vast spiritual and artistic world. Its meaning continues to unfold as we compare texts, rituals, and images, a dialogue between the past and the present that remains unfinished.
There may still be much more to discover, and each discovery deepens the appreciation for how the Newar masters embodied profound Tantric truths in stone.
This reflection is shared with openness and respect for both the scholarship and the tradition that illuminate it, a reminder that learning itself, like the water of Tusa Hiti, is a continuous and purifying flow.