Begtse — “the Hidden Coat of Mail,” the red war-god — is a fierce dharma-protector of Tibetan Buddhism: an armored, sword-wielding deity of war who was, by tradition, a Mongolian war-god subdued and bound to the dharma, one of the Eight Great Dharmapalas and a guardian especially associated with the protection against enemies and conflict.
The Red War-God
Begtse (Begtse Chen, “Great Coat of Mail”) is depicted as a fierce, red-bodied wrathful deity clad in armor (his “coat of mail”), wearing boots, wielding a flaming sword (often a scorpion-hilted sword) in his right hand and tearing at the heart and life of an enemy with his left, trampling a horse and a human corpse beneath his feet, wreathed in flames and terrible of aspect. As a war-god, he embodies martial power and ferocity turned to the protection of the dharma.
The Mongolian God Subdued
By tradition, Begtse was originally a war-god of the Mongols — a fierce and powerful deity of battle — who was subdued and converted to the dharma. The most famous account ties his conversion to the time of the third Dalai Lama’s mission to convert the Mongols to Tibetan Buddhism in the sixteenth century: Begtse, the Mongolian war-god, came to oppose the Dalai Lama but was overcome (the Dalai Lama transforming into [avalokiteshvara]) and bound as a protector of the dharma. So the war-god of the steppes became a guardian of the Buddhist teaching, his martial fury harnessed to its defense.
The Guardian Against Enemies
Begtse is counted among the Eight Great Dharmapalas, the principal wrathful protectors of Tibetan Buddhism, and he is invoked especially for protection against enemies, hostility, and conflict, and for victory and defense in times of danger. His fierce armored form stands in the protector-chapels of the monasteries, the red war-god guarding the dharma with sword and flame. In Begtse, Tibetan Buddhism gave form to martial power converted to protection — the red, armored war-god of the steppes, “the Hidden Coat of Mail,” subdued and bound to the dharma, one of the Eight Great Protectors who guards the teaching against its enemies with the sword and the fury of war.