གཞལ་མེད་ཁང་། | Glossary of Terms

These palaces served as both vehicles and residences for deities.

These palaces served as both vehicles and residences for deities.

Vimāna, translated here as “airborne palace,” can mean a divine chariot or palace, or a combination of the two, as in this translation. These flying palaces of the deities are well known in Indian mythology. Burnouf translates as “chariots”; Kern has “aerial cars.”

The Sanskrit term vimāna can refer to a multistoried mansion or palace, or even an estate, but is more often used in the sense of a celestial chariot of the gods, sometimes taking the form of a multistoried palace; hence the Tibetan translation, khang brtsegs, literally “storied house.”

The Sanskrit term vimāna can refer to a multistoried mansion or palace, or even an estate, but is more often used in the sense of a celestial chariot of the gods, sometimes taking the form of a multistoried palace.

Here refers to a palace of the gods (devavimāna). Alternatively, it can refer to a chariot or self-moving aerial car.