Kurukulla, Vanquisher of Evil Spirits

Currently not on view

Kurukulla, Vanquisher of Evil Spirits

c. 18th century

Artist/maker unknown, Mongolian or Tibetan

In this painting the goddess Kurukulla brandishes a bow and arrow and a goad (composed of flowers) to subdue malicious spirits. Her tiger-skin skirt suggests the fearlessness she requires of her devotees, such as the monk in the upper left corner. He may be the Indian teacher Atisha (982-1054), who promoted worship of Kurukulla in Tibet. The bucolic landscape at the bottom of the painting contrasts craggy, golden mountains-populated with deer and a family of waterfowl swimming on a jewel-filled pond-with sinister raptors and a tiger eating a human corpse next to a white stupa (at lower right). Like Christian memento mori paintings, such reminders of death are meant to alert viewers of the preciousness of life.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Kurukulla, Vanquisher of Evil Spirits

Date:

c. 18th century

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Mongolian or Tibetan

Medium:

Colors on cloth; cloth mountings

Dimensions:

Image: 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (42.5 x 32.4 cm) Mount: 36 1/2 x 23 inches (92.7 x 58.4 cm) Frame: 44 1/2 × 29 3/8 × 2 5/8 inches (113 × 74.6 × 6.7 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1959

Accession Number:

1959-38-4

Geography:

Made in Mongolia, Asia or made in Tibet, Asia

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Currently not on view