Tantric Temple Banner of a Dancing Goddess Flanked by Dakinis
17th century
- Medium
- Pigments and black ink on cloth
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 124.5 × 231.1 cm (49 × 91 in.)
- Culture
- Nepal
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This horizontal scroll (bilampo) from Nepal features three dancing Buddhist deities framed within aureoles and interspersed with flowers. The white multi-armed goddess at the center is the largest and most powerful figure and is probably White Tara (the Savioress); she has a third eye and holds a lotus in each of her 18 hands. The goddess is flanked by two bird-headed female attendants, one blue and one green, each wearing a necklace of human skulls and trampling a nude male figure (a symbol of ignorance). These are probably dakinis, tantric sky dancers who play a supportive role helping humans to overcome ignorance. This type of banner was and still is displayed outdoors, often on the walls of a temple, during festivals.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
