Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Antiquities Modern Contemporary Fine Arts and Books | April 2017

18* Anonymous, Tibetan School Thangka of Outer Yama Dharmaraja, Tibet Distemper on cloth, 15th Century 24.2 x 20.5 in (61.5 x 52.1 cm) Provenance Acquired by Osian’s-Connoisseurs of Art from Christie’s Sale ‘Indian and Southeast Asian Art’, New York, 21st September 2005; Lot 125 INR 5,000,000 – 7,500,000 USD 74,630 – 111,940 Antiquity / A.S.I. Registered A.S.I. No. DHL-1 007080 Non-Exportable Item This thangka is apowerful depictionof thedeityOuter YamaDharmaraja, who serves as a protector of those engaged in the practices of the Vajrabhairava Tantra. Though common to all the Buddhist lineages of Tibet, the Gelugpas regard Yama Dharmaraja as one of their principal protectors along with Six-Armed Mahakala and Vaishravana. Though often confused with Yama, the ‘Lord of Death,’ who presides over the Hell realms, Outer Yama Dharmaraja is actually a different figure. The present deity is part of the tradition of the Bhairava Root Tantra where Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, assumes a variety of forms to conquer Yama (who represents samsara, the endless cycle of suffering arising from rebirth). This theme of vanquishing death in turn becomes a metaphor for the tantric practice itself. Of the figures appearing here in Yama’s retinue, the large figure to the right bearing a trident and skullcup is Chamundi, the female consort of Yama. To the left is the deity Inner Yama Dharmaraja, as well as small Yamas, each standing on a buffalo. Red, green, yellow and white in colour, they represent the Buddhas of the four directions. Rendered in bold blue and reds typical of Central Tibetan thangkas of the 15th century, this painting bears stylistic similarities to a depiction of Vajrabhairava in the Los Angeles County Museum, illustrated in P. Pal, Art of Tibet, 1983, pp. 146-147, no. P12, pl. 17; a painting of Vajramahabhairava on a mural in Gyantse Stupa, illustrated by F. Ricca and E. Lo Bue, The Great Stupa of Gyantse, 1993, p. 164, no. 49; and a thangka of Yamantaka illustrated in J. Casey, et al., Divine Presence, 2003, pp. 150-151, no. 49. Text reprinted from Christie’s Online Auction Catalogue for Lot 125, New York 21 September 2005