Kurukulla, Vanquisher of Evil Spirits
Artist/maker unknown, Mongolian or Tibetan
Geography:
Made in Mongolia, Asia
or Tibet, Asia
Date:
c. 18th centuryMedium:
Colors on cloth; cloth mountingsDimensions:
Image: 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (42.5 x 32.4 cm) Mount: 36 1/2 x 23 inches (92.7 x 58.4 cm) Frame: 44 1/2 × 29 3/8 × 2 5/8 inches (113 × 74.6 × 6.7 cm)Curatorial Department:
South Asian ArtObject Location:
1959-38-4Credit Line:
Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1959
Made in Mongolia, Asia
or Tibet, Asia
Date:
c. 18th centuryMedium:
Colors on cloth; cloth mountingsDimensions:
Image: 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (42.5 x 32.4 cm) Mount: 36 1/2 x 23 inches (92.7 x 58.4 cm) Frame: 44 1/2 × 29 3/8 × 2 5/8 inches (113 × 74.6 × 6.7 cm)Curatorial Department:
South Asian ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1959-38-4Credit Line:
Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1959
Social Tags [?]
asia [x] atisha [x] bow and arrow [x] buddhist [x] color on cloth [x] death [x] deer [x] flowers [x] goad [x] goddess kurukulla [x] human corpse [x] landscape [x] life [x] mongolia [x] monk [x] south asia [x] stella kramrisch [x] thangka [x] tibet [x] tiger-skin [x] vanquisher of evil spirits [x] waterfowl [x] white stupa [x] worship [x]In this painting the goddess Kurukulla brandishes a bow and arrow and a goad (composed of flowers) to subdue malicious spirits. Her tiger-skin skirt suggests the fearlessness she requires of her devotees, such as the monk in the upper left corner. He may be the Indian teacher Atisha (982-1054), who promoted worship of Kurukulla in Tibet. The bucolic landscape at the bottom of the painting contrasts craggy, golden mountains-populated with deer and a family of waterfowl swimming on a jewel-filled pond-with sinister raptors and a tiger eating a human corpse next to a white stupa (at lower right). Like Christian memento mori paintings, such reminders of death are meant to alert viewers of the preciousness of life.
