Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones
Unknown Artist
early 1200s
Medium
Thangka, silk tapestry with pearls
Dimensions
100.6 × 74.3 cm · mounted: 111.1 × 83.8 × 7 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1992.72
About this artwork
The powerful blue body of Achala, meaning “immovable,” dominates the composition. He holds a sword to cut through ignorance and a noose for catching illusions that plague the path to enlightenment. Small personifications of furious destroyers of illusion (maya) emanate from him on either side, each with his own weapon. This image expresses what advanced practitioners would visualize in meditation rituals, as explained in Buddhist texts called tantras. Woven with a sophistication matched only by ...