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Kalacakra deity in yabyum position with Visvamata
Tibetan
15th century
Object Place: Tibet
Medium/Technique
Distemper on cotton
Dimensions
Overall: 53.2 × 51.3 cm (20 15/16 × 20 3/16 in.)
Framed: 114.6 × 84.1 × 3.8 cm (45 1/8 × 33 1/8 × 1 1/2 in.)
Framed: 114.6 × 84.1 × 3.8 cm (45 1/8 × 33 1/8 × 1 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of John Goelet
Accession Number67.821
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionPainting in hanging scroll (thangka) format, with decorative stitched borders, mounted on removable support panel
The kalacakra deity represents the wheet of time and by extension the freedom from death. Worship of this deity is based on the texts of the Kalacakra Tantra one of the most recent and one of the most complex schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The iconography of this deity is equally complicated. He has black/blue skin and has four faces. The front face is black, the right face is red, that at the left white, and the face at the back is yellow. His twenty-four arms are also distinguished by colors corresponding to those of his faces and each of his hands holds one of the many symbols of Tantric Buddhism. His right leg is red and stands on the back of a red image of the Hindu deity of love, Kama. His left leg is white and steps on the back of a white figure of Mahesvara, one of the manifestations of the Hindu god, Siva. Although several Hindu deities had been incorporated into the pantheon of Tantric Buddhism by the time of the creation of the Kalacakra Tantra, they were often regulated to subsidiary positions. The Kalacakra deity wears a tiger skin and all of his jewelry is composed of sets of vajras.
In this painting, Kalacakra embraces a figure of the goddess Visvamata, the female personification of his energies. She also has four faces which are multicolored and eight hands. Four smaller images of divinities associated with the Kalacakra lineage fill the four corners of the center of this painting. Additional deities as well as portraits of the monks of the red cap sect are shown along the borders.
The kalacakra deity represents the wheet of time and by extension the freedom from death. Worship of this deity is based on the texts of the Kalacakra Tantra one of the most recent and one of the most complex schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The iconography of this deity is equally complicated. He has black/blue skin and has four faces. The front face is black, the right face is red, that at the left white, and the face at the back is yellow. His twenty-four arms are also distinguished by colors corresponding to those of his faces and each of his hands holds one of the many symbols of Tantric Buddhism. His right leg is red and stands on the back of a red image of the Hindu deity of love, Kama. His left leg is white and steps on the back of a white figure of Mahesvara, one of the manifestations of the Hindu god, Siva. Although several Hindu deities had been incorporated into the pantheon of Tantric Buddhism by the time of the creation of the Kalacakra Tantra, they were often regulated to subsidiary positions. The Kalacakra deity wears a tiger skin and all of his jewelry is composed of sets of vajras.
In this painting, Kalacakra embraces a figure of the goddess Visvamata, the female personification of his energies. She also has four faces which are multicolored and eight hands. Four smaller images of divinities associated with the Kalacakra lineage fill the four corners of the center of this painting. Additional deities as well as portraits of the monks of the red cap sect are shown along the borders.
ProvenanceBy 1967, John Goelet, New York, NY; 1967, gift of Goelet to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 13, 1967)