Page 24 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

3014
A RAKTAYAMARI MANDALA
TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
Distemper on cloth; verso with “ohm, ah, hum” invocations behind the figures and a five-
line Tibetan prayer; with original lacquered dowel rods and later silk mounts.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.100646
Image: 20 7/8 x 17 1/8 in.(53 x 43.5 cm);
With silks: 31 x 19 1/2 in. (79 x 50 cm)

$60,000 - 80,000

西藏 十五世紀 紅閻摩敵壇城

Raktayamari is an emanation of Manjushri and a pivotal Vajrayana meditation deity
centering on the cessation of suffering and unhappiness in the world. He appears with his
consort, Vajravetali, at the center of his celestial palace encircled by rings of lotus petals
and fire, seen from above. He is surrounded by a coterie of emanations including four
gatekeepers of the mandala and four directional deities positioned at the cardinal points:
red Raga Yamari, green Irshya Yamari, white Moha Yamari, and yellow Matsarya Yamari.

On the red veranda, on either side of the T-shaped gates, sixteen tiny offering goddesses
frolic. Above them, looped garlands and streamers hang from the palace walls. Its tiered
lintels rest upon the converging prongs of a giant macrocosmic visvavajra supporting the
palace from underneath.

As Raktayamari’s progenitor, the bodhisattva Manjushri appears in the top left corner,
after the Primordial Buddha. He is the second figure within a teaching lineage, passing
on the practice of Raktayamari. Virupa is the first mortal recipient in a line of Indian
mahasiddhas and Tibetan monastic masters.

Outside the mandala’s fiery perimeter, four other important aspects of Manjushri appear
within roundels flanked by ancillary celestial couples. These are Manjushri Namasangiti in
the top left, Krishnayamari with consort on the top right, Three-Faced Krishnayamari on
the bottom right, and Vajrabhairava on the bottom left.

The register below begins with a monk-patron with hands in obeisance before offerings
and three emanations of Yamari, followed by a host of worldly guardians deriving from
Indian mythology, including Brahma on a goose, Vishnu on Garuda, and Ganapati on
a rat. The register terminates with charitable Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and
prosperity. This didactic painting depicts in beautiful and exacting detail a comprehensive
history and symbolism of one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most important practices.

Published
Pia and Louis Van der Wee, “A Thangka Mounted with Rods: A Secret Revealed”, in
Oriental Art, New York, 2000, Vol. XLVI, No.4.
Pia and Louis Van der Wee, A Tale of Thangkas: Living with a Collection, Antwerp, 1995,
pp.121-122, fig.58.

Exhibited
De Taal van de Thangka, Ethnographic Museum, Antwerp, 1995.

Provenance
The Van Der Wee Collection, Belgium, acquired in Belgium, April 1966

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