Vajravarahi

Description

Vajravarahi is the tantric Buddhist counterpart to the Hindu mother goddess Varahi, identifiable by the boar head emerging above her right ear. She is a female enlightened being who emanated from the Buddhist Goddess of Perfect Wisdom. Enlightened beings transcend gender distinctions, and they can emanate as either male or female. The lithe figure dances while carrying a skull cup in her left hand. Raised up in her right hand is a ritual flaying knife with a handle in the shape of a halfvajra, used for skinning the metaphorical beast of uncontrolled passions. The pegs cast into her lower body were for holding a bone skirt.

Provenance

Pan Asia Collection; (Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1982); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1982–)

Vajravarahi

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1300s

Accession Number

1982.50

Medium

gilt bronze with turquoise inlay

Dimensions

Overall: 36 cm (14 3/16 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund