Red Tara Kurukulla with Pancha Mahabhuta Landscape

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The goddess is usually shown in her usual four-armed form, dancing in ardhaparyankasana and adorned with crown of skulls, necklace of severed human heads, and the bone ornaments. Her upper left hand bears her standard attributes of the drawn bow and arrow, with the bow in her left, or wisdom hand. The right hand counterpart of method is shown pulling back the bowstring. Her one right hand holds a summoning arrow or hook and flower noose or string in her left hand.

Ichnographically the bow and arrow are key symbolic implements referencing the goddess's subjugating qualities. When shown preparing to shoot, they are understood to be combining wisdom and method to aim the power of that union straight into the enemy's heart. The arrow serves to transfix false views, while the bow shows mastery over the three realms. When bow and arrow are adorned with or created from flowers, as found in Kurukulla's standard iconography, it alludes to the destruction of Kamadeva, the Hindu god of passion, who after shooting arrows at the meditating figure of Shiva was burnt to ashes by his wrath-filled gaze.

In the context of mundane concerns, Kurukulla's mantras and attributes are able to bring any being under the control of the devotee through adherent practice. After having gained the proper empowerment and dedication to Kurukulla, the initiate may contain the deity's power within him or herself in order to accomplish the aim of the particular ritual. Kurukulla uses their sexual passion as a means of transcending reality and moving toward comprehension of the Dharma, free from ignorance and desire.

Goddess Kurukulla confers success in the Tantric rites of vasikarana or enchanting men, women, ministers, and even kings. It is said that she is invoked when no woman is near. If she is invoked with the mantra, om kurukulle hum hrih svaha, before her image ten thousand times, she touches the heart of the beloved who is surely won over.

There are different forms of Kurukulla both in peaceful and wrathful appearance. Here in the present painting she is shown dancing in ardhaparyankasana on a corpse. She has one head with a crown of five skulls with jewels, three eyes and wrathful appearance. Her densely curly hair erect in loose, looks like a pyramid. She has four hands – on the right she holds a flowery arrow and the second right hand clasps and pulls the bowstring and flowery arrow, at the left, a hand holds the floral bow and the other a flowery string of leaves. Her body is decked with ornaments of bone and gold. Moreover she wears a long flowing scarf, a long garland of freshly severed human heads and tiger-skin skirt. There is an arch-shaped aureole behind her with wisdom fire border. There is an auspicious peaceful offering at the bottom centre. The landscape depicts pancha mahabhuta. The pancha Mahabhuta or five great elements are earth, water, fire and space. The universe is supposed to compose of from pancha mahabhutas. The element earth is depicted here by rock formations, and mountainous landscape; the element water by waterfalls and lakes; fire by aureole's wisdom fire; air by cloud formation and space by sky.

Select Bibliography

A. Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism, Tokyo, 1962

B. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Calcutta, 1968

J.C. Huntington and D. Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Ohio, 2004

Lokesh Chandra, Transcendental Art of Tibet, Delhi, 1996

Marylin M. Rhie & Robert A.F. Thurman, Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion, New York, 1999

This description is by Dr. Shailendra K. Verma, whose Doctorate thesis is on "Emergence and Evolution of the Buddha Image (From its inception to 8th century A.D.)".

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Unveiling the Divine Art: Journey into the Making of Thangkas

A Thangka is a traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting that usually depicts a Buddhist Deity (Buddha or Bodhisattva), a scene, or a mandala. These paintings are considered important paraphernalia in Buddhist rituals. They are used to teach the life of the Buddha, various lamas, and Bodhisattvas to the monastic students, and are also useful in visualizing the deity while meditating. One of the most important subjects of thangkas is the Bhavacakra (the wheel of life) which depicts the Art of Enlightenment. It is believed that Thangka paintings were developed over the centuries from the murals, of which only a few can be seen in the Ajanta caves in India and the Mogao caves in Gansu Province, Tibet. Thangkas are painted on cotton or silk applique and are usually small in size. The artist of these paintings is highly trained and has a proper understanding of Buddhist philosophy, knowledge, and background to create a realistic and bona fide painting.

The process of making a thangka begins with stitching a loosely woven cotton fabric onto a wooden frame. Traditionally, the canvas was prepared by coating it with gesso, chalk, and base pigment.

After this, the outline of the form of the deity is sketched with a pencil or charcoal onto the canvas using iconographic grids. The drawing process is followed in accordance with strict guidelines laid out in Buddhist scriptures. The systematic grid helps the artist to make a geometrical and professional painting. When the drawing of the figures is finalized and adjusted, it is then outlined with black ink.

Earlier, a special paint of different colors was made by mixing powdered forms of organic (vegetable) and mineral pigments in a water-soluble adhesive. Nowadays, artists use acrylic paints instead. The colors are now applied to the sketch using the wet and dry brush techniques. One of the characteristic features of a thangka is the use of vibrant colors such as red, blue, black, green, yellow, etc.

In the final step, pure gold is coated over some parts of the thangka to increase its beauty. Due to this beautification, thangkas are much more expensive and also stand out from other ordinary paintings.

Thangka paintings are generally kept unrolled when not on display on the wall. They also come with a frame, a silken cover in front, and a textile backing to protect the painting from getting damaged. Because Thangkas are delicate in nature, they are recommended to be kept in places with no excess moisture and where there is not much exposure to sunlight. This makes them last a long time without their colors fading away. Painting a thangka is an elaborate and complex process and requires excellent skills. A skilled artist can take up to 6 months to complete a detailed thangka painting. In earlier times, thangka painters were lamas that spent many years on Buddhist studies before they painted.