![]() ![]() This 34-armed, 16-legged awesome form of Ekavira Vajrabhairava Yamantaka has a central bulls head with long black horns and the body colored deep dark blue-black. The unusual iconography, style, choice of materials and overall effect of this impressive image suggests that it is indeed a masterwork done by Aniko or his immediate entourage. The date-range of this magnificent Tantric sculpture also falls comfortably in the period of the Nepalese Master sculptor/artist Aniko’s long stay in China at the request of Kublai. It is known that Kublai was initiated into the mysteries of Yamantaka. Immediately following Kublai Khan’s becoming Supreme Emperor, Karma Pakshi (1204-1283) the second Karmapa hierarch traveled to China, spending six years there and became the Supreme Teacher of this Emperor. It has been radiocarbon dated at between 1150 to 1290 C.E., which is the early Yuan period, falling comfortably within the reign-period of Kublai becoming Supreme Khan and Emperor of Mongolia and China (in 1260 C.E.). ![]() Collected by the American artist George Grey Barnard, in Tibet, before World War II, for many years it was on loan to the Museum of Natural History in New York and is now in the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum, Richmond. This impressive sculpture, done in wood and finished with multi-colored lacquer, has a height of 52.25 inches (132 cms). The Sanskrit term Vajrabhairava means the “Adamantine Terrifier” and Yamantaka means “Remover of the Obstacle Yama (the Judge of the Dead).” The form of Yamantaka represented here is known as Ekavira, the “Solitary Hero”. The secret of the mind is Yamantaka and the Wrathful Ones. The secret of speech is Locana and the Buddha consorts The secret of the body is Vairochana and the Dhyani Buddhas Vajrabhairava Yamantaka A Tantric Initiatory Vision ![]()
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