Source: TW
The notable image installed by the Uighur Bojianu, cavalry general of the left wing of the imperial corps of the Mongol Khan, at Baochengsi under the patronage of the grand princess Sengge Ragi, the great-granddaughter of Khubilai Khan, the governess of the state of Lu.
Of all the various buddha-s the Tibetan lama-s tried to get the great Khan Khubilai interested in he was more drawn to the H deities absorbed by the tAthAgata-mata and has a special devotion to mahAkAla and his circle of deities. He had employed lama Phagspa to create the new Mongol script & had his student Dam pa to perform mahAkAla rituals for him.
In 1275 CE he performed a yuddha-jaya ritual invoking the retinue of mahAkala for the success of his general Bayan in the campaign against the chIna-s. (Mongolica: Qubilai Khan’s campaign to destroy the Southern Song MT) The final act in Mongol conquest of China shows the military capability of Qubilai and why his grandfather, the great Khan had singled him out as the one who someday would adorn his throne.
Then again in 1295CE his son Temür had the grand maNDala of mahAkAla to be inscribed and an abhichAra ritual performed for victory against the rival khan Qaidu: Some reflections on the Khans Qaidu and Du’a and the great Khan’s lost legacy, MT.
The devotion for the deity was transmitted to Khubilai’s great granddaughter Sengge Ragi, a scholarly woman and artist, who is said to have patronized the temple of mahAkAla “for the protection of the Mongol nation” south west of Beijing and had sacrifices performed to the deity. The Tibetan lama-s are said to have brought water from the ga~NgA and ashes from cemeteries in India for the rituals. The images are said to have been installed in the Indian style. The above temple of Baochengsi shows some of that and is unique in have vajrapANi on an elephant on one side and shrIdevI on the other. mahAkAla holds a severed head and tramples on a shava. it is said that the temple survived the cultural revolution because of a grill sealing of the images.