Painting in hanging scroll (thangka) format, with decoratively stitched borders, mounted on removable support panel. At the centre is Akshobhya Hevajra and his consort Nairatmya. Around them is a circle of eight goddesses, inside a celestial palace. Outside the palace is a ring filled with images of the eight great cemeteries. In the corners appear four forms of Hevajra, eleven protector deities appear at the bottom, and in the bottom left is a donor figure.
The centre of this mandala of Hevajra is nearly identical to that of 69.124. The details of patterning and of the “gateways” differ, as do the specific scenes of hell. The selection of Lamas and Bodhisattvas at the top and of protector deities at the bottom also differ.
INSCRIPTIONS: On the reverse, in Tibetan, behind each major figure: “Om, Ah, Hum”
Details
- Title : Mandala of Hevajra
- Year : dated 1461 (Nepal Samvat 581)
- Classification : Paintings
- Medium : Distemper on cotton
- Dimension : 62.2 x 55.8 cm (24 1/2 x 21 15/16 in.)
- Accession No : 67.823
- Country/ Geo-location : NEPAL
- Collection : Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Credit Line : Gift of John Goelet
- Status : NOT ON VIEW
- COLLECTIONS : Asia
- PROVENANCE : Early 1960s, probably purchased in India or Nepal by John Goelet, Amblainville (Oise), France; 1967, gift of John Goelet to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 13, 1967)