Page 16 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF ACHALA
Tibet, 12th/13th century
Pinning a prone Ganapati down on the broad-leafed lotus base,
Achala raises his sword and bears the threatening tarjani mudra,
clothed in a tiger skin and adorned with serpents.
7 7/8 in. (20 cm) high
$60,000 - 80,000
西藏 十二／十三世紀 不動明王銅像
This powerful sculpture heightens Achala’s ferocity through the application of silver inlaid teeth
and copper inlaid eyes surrounded by cold-gold and orange pigment. Ganapati here is also
unusually animate, with his upturned head and wide-eyed gaze.
This form of the Achala is important in the Kriya Tantra practice popularized by Atisha (982-
1054), the founder of the Kadampa School, and by Lobpon Sonam Tsemo of Sakya (1142-
1182). Achala’s role is to remove obstacles in the mind of a practitioner and protect the mind
from negative forces. The deity appears in the Mahavairochana Sutra that was known in early
8th-century India and translated into Chinese in 724 CE.
For a group of closely related examples see von Schroeder, Buddhist sculptures in Tibet,
pp. 112-3, nos. 291A-E. Also compare with another example from the Gerd Wolfgang
Essen Collection, in Essen & Thingo, Die Gotter des Himalaya, 1989, p. 160, fig. I-98.
For a comprehensive discussion of the role of Achala in the Buddhist pantheon, see Rob
Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion, Boston, 1999, pp. 151-6.
Referenced
HAR - himalayanart.org/items/61415
Provenance
Private Collection, USA

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