Shamvara and A Dakini
Unknown Artist
c. 1100
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
h. 14.8 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1985.92
About this artwork
Two extremely rare bronzes of tantric Buddhist deities depict the trampling of the personifications of the afflictions that keep beings cycling around the world of samsara, moving from one unhappy birth, death, and rebirth to another. The male figure, a prominent form of a tantric Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism, is four-armed and probably once held a vajra and bell in his crossed hands. The female deity appears to hold a skull cup in her left hand, with a mace in the crook of her elbow, and she gras...