# Dancing Hevajra (<em>Ardhaparyanka</em>)

- By: Khmer
- Date: Angkor period, 12th‒13th century or later
- Medium: Bronze
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 14.4 × 6.5 × 4.6 cm (5 5/8 × 2 1/2 × 1 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Southeast Asia
- Credit line: Avery Brundage, Samuel Nickerson, and Margrette Dornbusch funds
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148419)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/335ecdb5-1c44-9ad5-4915-0029689f5d1d/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This small bronze depicts Hevajra, a wrathful tantric form of the Buddha Akshobhya, central to Vajrayana Buddhism. With eight heads, sixteen arms holding skull cups, and a dynamic dance pose trampling ignorance, Hevajra appears alone—unlike Himalayan depictions that include his consort. This Khmer-style image, likely used in ritual, reflects royal tantric practices promoted at Angkor in the late 12th and 13th centuries. Hevajra images found at Buddhist sites in Cambodia and northeast Thailand suggest a broader regional diffusion of this esoteric tradition.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0