Page 108 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Thangka Collection

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A RARE BLACK-GROUND THANGKA OF HERUKA
Tibet, 19th century
Distemper and gold on cloth, with silk mount.
40 x 26 cm (15 3/4 x 10 1/4 in);
With cloth mount: 73 x 38 cm (28 3/4 x 15 in)

西藏十九世紀 赫魯嘎像

Referenced 參考: Himalayan Art Resources item no.2186

Provenance 來源: The Jongen-Schleiper Collection of Fine Thangkas

Published and Illustrated: A.Neven, Etudes D’Art Lamaique et de
L’Himalaya, Brussels, 1978, pp.64-65, no.38

出版及著錄： A.Neven著，《Etudes D’Art Lamaique et de
L’Himalaya》，布魯塞爾，1978年，頁64-65，編號38

The figure at the top of the painting shows Samantabhadra in union
with Prajna representing the union of wisdom and compassion, thus
aligning this painting with the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism,
where Samantabhadra is considered to be the ‘First Buddha’ or
adibuddha.

The Chemchok Heruka possesses nine heads on three tiers, all with
three eyes. In addition, he has nine pairs of arms holding various
attributes and four pairs of legs. Although terrifying in appearance, the
Heruka is a deity form adopted by Buddhas when they express their
breaking through ignorance as a fierce deed. It translates in Tibetan
as ‘Blood-drinker’, which dramatises Wisdom’s consumption of the
lifeblood of ignorance.

The central Heruka is surrounded in each quarter by secondary
Herukas accompanied by their consorts. This thangka creates a
mandala illustrating to the spirits the process during the intermediate
state between the moment of death and the return to embryonic life
(bardo). Although nine groups appear here distinctly, it remains difficult
to specify their function since the current iconographic source differs
from the usual steps of bardo thodol, or Liberation Through Hearing
During the Intermediate State, of which various versions exist.

The deceased begins, in this case, by visualizing the holders of
knowledge or (vidyahara) in the form of semi-wrathful divinities. This
apparition closes the first part of the bardo on the seventh day, and is
followed by the vision of the Herukas, succeeding each other until the
twelfth day. On the thirteenth day the eight witches with the heads of
animals enter the scene.

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