A thangka depicting a mandala of Shri Devi, West Tibet, 14th century

A thangka depicting a mandala of Shri Devi
West Tibet, 14th century
藏西 十四世紀 吉祥天母曼荼羅唐卡

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13824
HAR編號13824

Height 28½ in., 72.6 cm; Width 21½ in., 54.6 cm

Condition Report:
Because this lot was imported into the United States after September 1, 2020, it is subject to an import tariff of 7.5% of the value declared upon entry into the United States. $22,500.00, plus applicable sales tax will be included on your invoice unless you instruct Sotheby's to arrange shipping of the lot to a foreign address. For more information on the import tariff, please review the Symbol Key in the back of the catalogue. If you have any questions, please contact tariffs@sothebys.com.

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Catalogue Note:
This extremely rare 14th century painting, among the earliest recorded Nyingma paintings from Western Tibet, depicts Shri Devi, the principal consort of the protector Mahakala and the only female protector deity of the Buddhist faith, alongside two figures of Chemchog Heruka, the deities who guide the consciousness of the deceased through the regions of the afterlife. She is a popular subject in the Western Himalayas. As Giuseppe Tucci explores in Tibetan Painted Scrolls, Rome, 1949, vol. 2, pp 590-94, while Shri Devi served as a protector of the Buddhist faith, she was also associated with Bon deities, including those connected with the creation and suppression of disease. She frequently appears as a subsidiary protector goddess in early paintings, but is very rarely seen as the principle subject.

Shri Devi is depicted seated on her mule, the front hoof raised, taut with energy, holding a three pennant flag in her right arm high above her head, the left hand holding a skull cap. A lion can be seen emerging from her right earring, and what appears to be a snake on her left earring. A sack can be seen under her left arm, containing jewels or possibly diseases. The protector goddess wears a flayed human skin cape over the shoulders tied by an arm and leg, a garland of severed heads and a tiger-skin loin cloth, and is adorned with gold and human bone jewelry, a peacock feather and crescent moon headdress, with a snow lion and a serpent appearing from behind the ears. The deity rides side-saddle, atop a mule draped with serpents, talismans, and the flayed skin of her son, striding across a sea of blood led by Shri Devi’s attendant Makaramukha and followed by the lion-faced Simhamukha.

On the register above are depicted two ferocious figures of Mahakala Heruka. The top register depicts figures including Vajradhara, Vairocana, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Vajrapani, a Dakini, Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal. The next register depicts Shakyamuni Buddha and Padmasambhava, identifying the painting as from the Nyingma school. The bird-headed and lion-headed figures below the third register, are extremely unusual retinue figures. These possibly derive from Bon iconography. There is a profusion of monks and lay figures, and additional fantastic animal-headed register figures. The donor figure on the bottom right, possibly a Kashmiri, is depicted in Central Asian clothing, a male wearing a white robe and turban.

The reverse with a large early inscribed stupa containing a great number of inscriptions including most commonly, 20 reading Oṃ Ᾱh Hūṃ which are usually placed behind the three major psychic power places on the various deity’s body at the head, heart and solar plexus.

All of these 20 visible mantras are vertical in their orientation.

The inscription reads:

Om shri heruka vajra krodhishvaristi hum ha he phat mama yogini rulu rulu hum bhyoh hum.

Om ye dharma hetu prabhava hetum tesham tathagato hyavadat tesham cha yo nirodha evam vadi maha shramana svaha.

('Patience for hardships is noble patience, [Leading to] supreme liberation, the Buddha has said. With respect to others, Monks should do no harm or cause distress').

Om vajra rakmo yakmo nying kha rakmo bhyoh. kha mu khra ba ragsha ma bhyoh.

Om a hum..,

In the Bumpa (the bulbous part of the stupa), the inscription reads:

Na mo pad ma gu ru … si ti hūṃ

It translates as – ‘Homage to the Lotus Guru…may enlightenment come - hūṃ.’

(It should be noted that this is a version of the more common mantra for Padmasambhava which reads:

Oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ)

In the top two smaller steps, we see the extended mantra for the deity:

Oṃ Śrī Heruka Vajra krodhe shwa ra sto huṃ ha he phaṭ ma ma yo ki ni ru lu ru lu Bhyo hūṃ

This can be translated as– 'Mightiest of the Wrathful Vajra Beings' – then follow mantra sounds - Bhyo hūṃ’

The final syllables Bhyo hūṃ ‘seal’ the mantra and the deity against any outside evil influences. Of interest is that the mantra ‘Oṃ ru lu ru lu hūṃ bhyo hūṃ’ also is the mantra used to evoke the 58 wrathful Heruka deities encountered...