Kongara douji　矜羯羅童子

KEY WORD :　art history / iconography

Lit. the youth Kongara. One of two chief attendants of *Fudou Myouou 不動明王 (the other is *Seitaka douji 制た迦童子). Also counted among Fudou Myouou's eight attendants *hachidai douji 八大童子. His name Kongara (also read Konkara) is a transliteration of Sanskrit kimkara, meaning servant, slave, and he is said to personify obedience. He is most commonly found accompanying Seitaka in the Fudou triad, Fudou sanzon 不動三尊, standing to the left of Fudou. According to the HACHIDAI DOUJI HIYOU HOUBON 八大童子秘要法品, he assumes the form of a fifteen-year-old youth with pale-coloured skin, wears a lotus crown, and has a single-pronged vajra resting between the thumb and forefinger of each hand which are clasped together before his breast. Actual artistic representations of him found in Japan do not necessarily follow these prescriptions. Kongara douji is also mentioned as an attendant of deities other than Fudou and in a rite dedicated to him in the FUKUUKENJAKU DARANIKYOU 不空羂索陀羅尼経 he is described as a *Yasha 夜叉 of wrathful appearance, which contrasts his peaceful mien as an attendant of Fudou.

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