The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Tapestry depicting Achala, a nude, blue deity waving a sword in his right hand and a noose in his left, swirling around his body. He stands with one foot on a blue human-like figure and the other a white, elephant-headed figure a fifth his size. Four even smaller multi-color figures, each holding weapons, leap out from him on either side. A band of five seated people runs on top, and five figures standing on one leg, holding trays stand below, with medium to lights or blue-tinged skin tones. Among floral patterns, blue circles with symbols inside line the border.

Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones

early 1200s

China, Zhejiang Province, probably Hangzhou

Thangka, silk tapestry with pearls
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
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The elephant-headed figure under his left foot is a demonic divinity, a yaksha, who creates obstacles to enlightenment.

Description

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 products of the Hangzhou looms, this devotional tapestry made its way to Khara-Khoto, capital of the Tangut Empire located in present-day Mongolia and Central Asia, where tantric Buddhism was prevalent.
  • ?–1992
    (Sara Tremayne, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1992–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38–79. Reproduced: p. 43–44; Mentioned: p. 43, 77 www.jstor.org
    Wardwell, Anne E. "The "Kesi Thangka" of Vighnāntaka." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 4 (1993): 136–39. Reproduced: p. 136; Mentioned: pp. 137–39 www.jstor.org
    "1993 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (1994): 143–218. Mentioned: p. 154 www.jstor.org
    Wardell, Anne E., "When Silk Was Gold", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 08, October 1997 Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 4–5 archive.org
    Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997. Mentioned: cat. no. 24, pp. 90–94; Reproduced: p. 91, color detail p. 94; b&w detail p. 92; detail of reverse figure 17, p. 59
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 62–63
    Amy Heller, "On the Development of the Iconography of Acala and Vighnantaka in Tibet," in Embodying Wisdom: Art, Text, and Interpretation in the History of Esoteric Buddhism. Rob Linrothe and Henrik Sorensen, eds. Copenhagen: Seminar for Buddhist Studies, 2001.
    "Highlights from North American Collections." IDP News: Newsletter of the International Dunhuang Project, no. 49-50, Summer 2017, pp. 4–7. Mentioned: p. 6
    Debreczeny, Karl. Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism. New York, NY: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019. Reproduced: fig. 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10, pp. 82–83, 94–97
    Debreczeny, Karl. "Faith and Empire: Art, Power and the Right to Rule." Orientations 50, no. 2 (March/April 2019):114–123. Mentioned: p. 115, Reproduced: p. 116, fig. 3
  • Himalayan Gallery 237 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14, 2024-March 20, 2025).
    Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism. Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 1-July 15, 2019).
    Himalayan art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 22, 2014-November 2, 2015).
    When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998).
    Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993).
  • {{cite web|title=Achala, King of the Wrathful Ones|url=false|author=|year=early 1200s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1992.72