Mark Rasmussen
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Lot 33
A black ground thangka of Panjaranatha Mahakala Tibet, circa 1800
17 March 2014, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$68,750 inc. premium
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A black ground thangka of Panjaranatha Mahakala
Tibet, circa 1800
Distemper on cloth; holding a curved knife and skullcup to the heart with a gandhi stick resting across the forearms, with a very fierce expression and all the customary wrathful ornaments and attire such as the necklace of fifty freshly severed heads, tiger skin lower garment and a long snake as a Brahmin cord, he stands atop a corpse above a dark sun disc surrounded by a mass of flaming fire with three garudas above and a black dog.
At the top of the composition is Buddha Vajradhara (2) and at middle left side is Ekajati (3) and right Shri Devi Dudsolma with four arms and riding a donkey (4), in the lower portion are the Five Karma Activity deities: Kala Rakshasa (5), Putra (6), Kal Rakshasi (7), Bhatra (8) and Singmo (6) and four other small figures depicted in the lower composition. Additionally there is a warrior (A), a dark woman (B) a mantradharin (ngagpa) (C) and a Buddhist monk (bhikshu) (D). These four figures of the outer retinue each represent a thousand figures for each of the four types: a 1000 warriors, a 1000 black women, a 1000 mantradharins, and a 1000 bhikshus.
With an Umay cursive Tibetan inscription verso:
This painting of Panjara and retinue is offered by the teacher Kunga Gyatso to the monastic house Ewam Zilnon [with the wish] to completely eliminate the wrong views of those practitioners of the Buddha's teachings and to swiftly pacify all of the outer and inner obstacles.
Image: 21 7/8 x 16 in. (55.5 x 40.6 cm); With silks: 39 1/4 x 24 1/2 in. (99.7 x 64.8 cm)
Distemper on cloth; holding a curved knife and skullcup to the heart with a gandhi stick resting across the forearms, with a very fierce expression and all the customary wrathful ornaments and attire such as the necklace of fifty freshly severed heads, tiger skin lower garment and a long snake as a Brahmin cord, he stands atop a corpse above a dark sun disc surrounded by a mass of flaming fire with three garudas above and a black dog.
At the top of the composition is Buddha Vajradhara (2) and at middle left side is Ekajati (3) and right Shri Devi Dudsolma with four arms and riding a donkey (4), in the lower portion are the Five Karma Activity deities: Kala Rakshasa (5), Putra (6), Kal Rakshasi (7), Bhatra (8) and Singmo (6) and four other small figures depicted in the lower composition. Additionally there is a warrior (A), a dark woman (B) a mantradharin (ngagpa) (C) and a Buddhist monk (bhikshu) (D). These four figures of the outer retinue each represent a thousand figures for each of the four types: a 1000 warriors, a 1000 black women, a 1000 mantradharins, and a 1000 bhikshus.
With an Umay cursive Tibetan inscription verso:
This painting of Panjara and retinue is offered by the teacher Kunga Gyatso to the monastic house Ewam Zilnon [with the wish] to completely eliminate the wrong views of those practitioners of the Buddha's teachings and to swiftly pacify all of the outer and inner obstacles.
Image: 21 7/8 x 16 in. (55.5 x 40.6 cm); With silks: 39 1/4 x 24 1/2 in. (99.7 x 64.8 cm)
Footnotes
Panjaranata Mahakala is the protector for the Hevajra cycle of Tantras. His iconography and rituals are found in the 18th chapter of the Vajra Panjara Tantra (canopy, or pavilion), an exclusive 'explanatory tantra' to the Hevajra Tantra itself. Forms of the two armed Mahakala can also be found in the Twenty-five and Fifty Chapter Mahakala Tantras.
Compare with another thangka of Panjaranata with his hair flowing upwards in the Rubin Museum of Art, see Linrothe and Watt, Demonic and Divine, New York, 2004, p. 21, fig. 1.27, and the thangka of Magzor Gyalmo, p. 167, no. 31. Also see Zwalf, Heritage of Tibet, London, 1981, p. 82, no. 41.
Published:
HAR #30509 - http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/30509.html
Provenance:
Private European Collection