Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones, as Vighnantaka Mongolia, Tangut Xia, Khara Khoto (1032–1227)

Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones, as Vighnantaka

early 1200s

Mongolia, Tangut Xia, Khara Khoto

(1032–1227)

Overall: 100.6 x 74.3 cm (39 5/8 x 29 1/4 in.); Mounted: 111.1 x 83.8 x 7 cm (43 3/4 x 33 x 2 3/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1992.72

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Did You Know?

The Tanguts employed Uyghur weavers to create tapestry thangkas.

Description

Close ties between the Buddhists of the Central Asian Tangut Xia kingdom and Tibetan monasteries resulted in works of devotional art, such as this tangka, featuring a remover of obstacles. The imagery has its roots in Nepal, where a protector was summoned by a powerful practitioner to defeat the Hindu god Ganesha, who was disturbing the proper performance of a tantric Buddhist ritual. For this reason, Ganesha and his father Shiva are being trampled under the feet of this figure. Known as Vighnantaka, he is an emanation of the Buddha Akshobhya, who is blue in color and is invoked to aid in quelling anger. This Buddha appears in his crown and as the central figure among the group of five transcendent Buddhas, who are fundamental in tantric Buddhism, depicted above the main image. Among the Tangut people, however, the blue Achala wielding a sword was the main protector, and appears merged with Vignantaka in this image. This rare Tangut tangka is one of few to survive from the period preceding the Mongol conquest of the region in 1227.