ཚའ་མཐའ་མད notes.28

notes.28

28. We interpret the Skt. compound kapālapāṇayo (ghorāḥ) as a karmadhāraya here (see Matsumura 1989, 76, v. 2c). For the only other occurrence of this term in Skt. Buddhist texts that we have come across so far, see Mahāvadāna­sūtra, where it clearly means “having/carrying a bowl in his hand” (see Mahāvadāna­sūtra, 16, §36.6, passim). The Tib. reads somewhat differently and its meaning is unclear: gzugs mi sdug pa ’greng zhing thod pa thogs (“Their deformed bodies stand erect and they hold bowl[s]”). Lama Kunga Rinpoche suggests either of two interpretations of the Tib.: (1) They are holding (skull?-)cups or bowls in their hands (constantly searching for food?); or (2) some feature of ugliness—referring to the form of their foreheads?—is being described (but the wording in Tib. is obscure). In later Skt. kapālapāṇi is used as an epithet of Śiva.